"C'mon. I woke you up before I got dressed because I knew you were going to be a princess about it."

Tyler groaned and rolled away from the girl, pulling his covers up more tightly. "We have plenty of time before school."

Amethyst shoved him again. "You're the one who didn't want to run last night. Get up."

"Get out."

"You're really going to give up before we even start?"

"No, seriously, get out. I sleep in boxers."

A blush rose up on her cheeks. "Fine. Five minutes."

She walked back across the hallway to her room, pulling her pajamas off after shutting the door. Amethyst pulled out an athletic tank top and sweats, annoyed at the fact she couldn't really put on a jacket over her cast. Pulling her sheets of hair back into a ponytail, she opened her door to see Tyler standing in his doorway, yawning.

She grinned as she trotted down the stairs, grateful her body had slightly adjusted to east coast time. She took out two bottles of water and set them on the counter before following Tyler out the door.

"Half a mile out at a run and half a mile back at a jog?" she asked, pulling on her foot to stretch her leg out.

Tyler raised an eyebrow. "I thought you said you were a runner."

"I was," she defended. "I was the best on my team at the 3,000 meter. That was also quite some time ago and my body's been through a lot."

"Sorry," he said instantly, but Amethyst waved him off, pressing the ball of her foot against the steps so she could fully prepare her legs.

They started off at a slow run, but Tyler picked up the pace first. Amethyst raised an eyebrow and picked up the pace to keep up with him. He raised the speed again and she caught up, only allowing herself to lag behind when he was at a full-out sprint.

When she ran past him on the way back, she got to give him the smirk he had tossed at her first. Tyler made it in to his front yard and dropped into the grass next to where Amethyst was stretching.

"I told you I was a distance runner," she said. "Basketball and football may have given you speed, but I know how to close a race. Now come on, I need help putting my arm in a trash bag and I refuse to go to school smelling like this."

An hour and a half later, the two were climbing out of Tyler's van at Forks High School. Amethyst was amazed that the maroon buildings actually seemed to welcome her back, a smile pulling across her face

She walked over to her friends, immediately snuggling into Angela's side. "Good morning," Amethyst greeted, sipping on her tea.

"Good morning nothing," Tyler said even though she hadn't really been talking to him. "This monster dragged me out of bed at 6 a.m. so we could go for a mile run."

"That I totally kicked your ass at running," she reminded him, turning her attention to Angela with a roll of her eyes. "You're always welcome to join us if you'd like."

"Running's not really my thing," the girl replied quickly. "But I thought your medicine was helping you warm up, so why the cuddling and the tea?"

Amethyst looked down at her clothing. She had taken to wearing oversized sweaters that fit over her cast, wearing a dark green one she had received for Christmas with her thick, white leggings, boots and the tan silk scarf Angela gave her. "I am warmer. I just like being close to you."

Angela opened her mouth and quickly closed it again at the comment. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you."

"You didn't," Amethyst said with a raised eyebrow. "You really don't need to apologize for saying what you think."

Her friend smiled and tilted her head down as the brunette felt a very familiar shiver go down her back. She turned her head in time to see five people pile out of a silver Volvo, a pair of eyes trained on her the entire time. Electric blue stayed locked on honey as a smile pulled on her face, one that grew when Jasper smirked her way.

"So you two have progressed from just staring to eye sex."

Amethyst looked back to the voice. "Hi, Lauren. I've missed you so much as well."

The blonde rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry for everything that happened before you left."

"I'm not the one you really need to apologize to," she replied, ignoring how disingenuous it sounded anyway.

"I already apologized to Angela."

"Then I have no business with you," Amethyst said, grabbing Angela's wrist. "I don't care who you talk to as long as it isn't to me or about me." She pulled the taller girl off to their first period class.

Her chilly attitude toward the blonde hadn't changed when they sat across from each other at the lunch table, but she wasn't given much time to dwell on it.

"Looks like you aren't going to be the new girl anymore."

Amethyst switched her gaze over to Eric. "I haven't been the new girl since November."

"You're still the most recent person to move here. Until next week, that is."

"Excuse me for not jumping onto the table and celebrating."

"I would pay to see that," Mike butted in, making Amethyst throw a grape at him.

Eric drew her attention back by clearing his throat. "Not concerned at all?"

"About what? Everyone finally finding someone knew to talk about?"

"That Cullen won't find you interesting anymore once new girl gets here."

Lauren was very good at being blunt. "First off, the one I'm interested in is Hale, not Cullen. And secondly, if he's more interested in her, then he should go after her."

The blonde was surprised by her response. "And just drag you along?"

"If you care even the slightest about a person, you are human enough to tell them when your feelings change and if you feel as if things aren't working anymore."

"But you two aren't even a thing."

Amethyst shrugged, popping a grape into her mouth. "Then it doesn't matter either way." She turned to Tyler and snuck a French fry off his try, effectively ending the conversation.

"Did you understand what Mr. Gulden was lecturing about today?" Angela asked, turning Amethyst's attention from her glaring contact with the boy.

She nodded, scrunching her eyebrows a little bit. "Newton's Method is all about working with roots of functions. Were you having some trouble with it?"

The pink in Angela's cheeks was rather pretty. "I think I just fell behind in notes and didn't ever manage to catch up."

"No problem. We can work through the homework while Tyler's at practice tonight and then we can take you home." The basketball schedule switched to Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the semester change. It didn't bother Amethyst very much as she would be working Mondays and Fridays around her weekend shift at the library, and she had agreed to tutor after school on Wednesdays.

"Are you sure you won't mind?"

She frowned at the girl. "Do you think I hate you or something now?"

"No," Angela said, fidgeting with her juice bottle. "I just don't want to bother you with everything else you have going on right now."

Amethyst reached out with her good hand, wrapping it around one of Angela's. "Trust me, I don't have that much going on right now. Even if I did, I will always have time for you." The two girls smiled at each other before the brunette turned back to finished her food.

Her cast thankfully got her out of gym class, but Coach Clapp had her running errands to keep her off the bleachers as much as possible. Amethyst was walking through the hallway with a few books in her arm that had been found in the locker room when a pair of hands grabbed her hips and pulled her into an alcove.

Before she could even gasp, a cold hand was over her mouth. Amethyst followed the hand up to the honey gold eyes, rolling her own pair and shoving his smirking face away. "You know, there are much more effective ways to get a person's attention than attempted abduction."

"But they wouldn't be nearly as fun," Jasper challenged, sliding his hands to her hips. "You genuinely freaked out for a moment when I grabbed you."

"Because you literally could've been anyone," she defended, pulling the books she had in her arm across her chest.. "You could've been a murder or a rapist for all I know."

He raised a perfect blonde eyebrow. "In Forks High School?"

"I'm from the city. You never know."

Jasper grabbed the books from her and laid them on the ground before putting his arms back around her hips. "I believe you said something about dancing on the table today at lunch."

"Don't mind Mike," she murmured, putting her good hand on his bicep while she twisted one of her fingers from her casted arm into his belt loop. "He talks out of his ass."

"I was more wondering when I could expect the show."

She rolled her eyes but grinned as she pulled the boy closer by his belt loop, going up on her toes to press her lips against his. Jasper's fingers dug into her hips, closing any space that was left between the two of them.

Something about kissing Jasper felt scary and perfect at the same time. His lips were freezing, but she knew he would pass it off as a circulation issue if she asked. He tasted warm and sweet, like a peach pie with a lot of cinnamon. But she still always felt out of control when she kissed him, as if he had some kind of natural advantage over her.

Amethyst pulled away first, licking her lips as she kept her eyes closed, savoring his taste and the feeling for just a second longer.

Her eyes cracked open when he chuckled, the laugh shaking his chest. "You okay there, darlin'?" Jasper's voice was lower than usual and her heart started beating a little faster.

"Keep calling me darlin' and I won't be," she said softly, going up on her toes to kiss him again.

When they broke apart that time, Jasper let her go. "I should head back to class."

"Yeah, I suppose standing here all day isn't the best idea in the world."

"I certainly wouldn't complain," he said huskily, reaching out to cup her necklace. "Also, you don't have anything to worry about when it comes to the new girl. Because, just for the record, this Hale is interested in you as well."

Jasper grabbed the books he had set on the floor and pressed them back into her arms, pressing a kiss to the girl's lips one more time before he turned to walk to his class. Amethyst felt on top of the world as she continued on her path to the science wing.

Her steps faltered slightly, thinking about Jasper's words. He had teased her with information from her conversation at lunch even though they didn't sit near each other. The brunette shook the thought away, assuming they had just gotten too loud, a common occurrence for groups in the cafeteria.

When the final bell rang, Amethyst followed Tyler out of their government class.

"I've got to head straight to the gym. I'll meet you and Angela out by the office after practice," Tyler said, pressing a kiss to her cheek before running off to practice.

Amethyst waved sarcastically at his back, turning to walk toward Angela's building. The taller girl seemed surprise to see her approaching, looking around behind the brunette.

"Were you expecting someone else?" Amethyst teased, grabbing her friend's arm and steering her toward the office.

"No, I was just kind of assuming you would say goodbye to Jasper or he would come with you or something."

"Nope, sorry my dear. You're just going to have to settle for little old me."

Angela blushed again. "It's not settling, I just didn't know what exactly was going on with you two and didn't know if I was getting in the way."

"That was very considerate but unnecessary," Amethyst replied, plopping down on the curb outside of the first maroon building, glad the rain was staying away. "I'll tell you what. If we can get all the way through this homework and get you feeling good about Newton, I'll tell you what's going on with me and Jasper so you can stop looking over my shoulder."

"Or you can just tell me and accept the fact that this this topic might have me beaten."

Amethyst rolled her eyes. "Never accept surrender this early, Angela. Now, book out, come on."

The two worked through their homework for almost an hour, with Amethyst explaining how she got to her solution before having Angela solve the problem and the next one without an explanation. By the time they were finishing the last one, the taller girl didn't need her friend's help.

"I can't believe that seemed to impossible in class," Angela said, snapping her book closed with a sigh. "I makes me feel stupid for not getting it earlier."

"You really shouldn't ever feel like that," Amethyst said, sliding her own paper into the book. "Everyone just works through things differently and sometimes hearing the way someone else works through problems can make it easier."

The girl turned to look at the brunette. "Why are you so smart?"

"I am lucky to be fairly naturally intelligent. But I've also worked to be ahead of the curve for a long time. I knew I wanted to go to a specialized high school in the city, and Stuyvesant catered to math and science. I made myself stand out as much as possible in my middle school so I knew I would get in with my test scores once I finally was able to take the application test."

"That's actually really impressive. What do you want to do after college?"

"You mean when we're adults?" Amethyst laughed. "I have no idea in the slightest. I'm just hoping I'll get into a good college and kind of find my niche there. What about you?"

Angela smiled at the ground. "I'd love to be able to focus more on photography, maybe photojournalism, but it's not really that great of a goal."

"Are you kidding me? It's a fantastic goal," she said, reaching out to squeeze her friend's hand. "Photojournalists, and photographers for that matter, get to travel the world and document things other people only wish they could see themselves. You should totally go for it if that's what you're really passionate about."

A silence fell between the two as Angela smiled, playing with a lock of her hair. Amethyst realized the conversation was over and sighed lightly.

"I did make you a promise and I intend to keep it."

"You told Lauren the two of you aren't a thing."

Amethyst smiled. "No, she said we weren't a thing and I told her that it wouldn't matter if he was interested in another girl if that was the case."

"And is it?"

"I'm not really sure right now."

Angela bumped their shoulders together. "I thought you were going to tell me everything."

"I will, I will," Amethyst laughed, bumping her back. "So the time you saw me kiss him was the second time we kissed. The first time, we were alone in a car when we came back from Christmas shopping in Seattle. I just was so drawn in by his eyes and his everything and I couldn't help myself. While I was in the hospital, he stayed with me for a while and we just were kind of together. Like we didn't talk or do anything, we were just there together and I knew I was crazy about him.

"In New York, I got my Christmas present from him." The girl looked down at the charms hanging just slightly above her chest. "It was the first time I really thought about him caring about me the same way. We e-mailed back and forth a few times, just kind of staying updated with each other and letting the other know the distance wasn't changing anything for either of us.

"When I got back yesterday, he came over to help me move and we kissed again. Jasper has a strong presence, but he isn't forceful with me. I do get kind of overwhelmed when we kiss, but he never makes me feel afraid or unimportant. In fact, I always feel as if his attention is entirely on me when we're near each other."

Angela waited for her friend to talk again, nudging her when she didn't. "And today?"

Amethyst grinned, a blush growing over her cheeks. "We did have our moment today, but it was quiet and nice. I suppose he's tired of all the attention and doesn't want any more than he has to get, and it doesn't bother me. I'm huge on physical contact, but you and Tyler give me plenty of that. As long as I know he's not off with some other girl, it doesn't really bother me that we don't sit together at lunch or hold hands in the hallway."

"Wow." The taller girl leaned back with a sigh. "You're dating a Cullen."

"I'm not," Amethyst immediately replied. "But why are you all awestruck by it anyway? Is Ben not enough for you?"

Angela blushed. "I don't know what you mean."

"Oh come on, everyone can see that you two are meant for each other. Why do you think all the other guys stay away?"

"Because I don't look like you."

Amethyst rolled her eyes. "You're gorgeous. You shouldn't ever compare yourself to anyone else, anyway. If you don't like your look, it is always within your power to change it. I don't think you need to, but you should always listen to yourself over anyone else around you."

"I guess I'm just a little self conscious about my height," she admitted with a sigh. "It's hard when you've been the same height or taller than most guys around you since elementary school."

"I can't say I know anything about that." Amethyst was proud to be 5'8, but that wasn't unusually tall. "But it really don't seem as if Ben cares. And none of your friends care, so you should really go for it.:

Angela sighed. "Thanks for the pep talk, but I'm still just not really sure."

Tyler suddenly plopped down between the girls, throwing an arm around both of them. "Ladies," he said, grinning at Amethyst.

She shrugged his arm off. "You stink. Don't suffocate poor Angela who's too polite to shove you off with your boy smell."

Tyler pretended to be offended a moment, but sniffed his own armpit and made a face. "This, ladies, is why we always carry deodorant," he said, reaching in and grabbing a stick out of his bag.

"Now if only you had used some before shoving your arm around us, that'd be great." The brunette rolled her eyes as Angela giggled.

The three stood up and walked toward Tyler's van, Angela insisting she could walk home. Neither of them listened to her,, Amethyst opening the back door and standing there until Angela climbed inside with a smile.

They stopped to drop off their friend first, the brunette rolling down her window when Angela climbed out. "Hey, would you want to do a movie night or a game night tomorrow? I have to surrender my weekends soon, so I think it'd be a great chance to get together."

"I'll ask," Angela said with a smile. "We'll talk about it tomorrow."

Tyler honked as he drove off. Amethyst sighed and pulled her feet up onto the passenger seat, really content with life.

"You never asked me about the movie night."

"We live together. It's mandatory for you."

Tyler raised an eyebrow. "I mean you never asked me if I wanted to do it or anything like that. You didn't even check to see if I have plans."

"Do you have plans?"

"Nope."

Amethyst threw up her hands and laughed, happy that life had gotten back to normal so quickly. In fact, she thought as she reached over to shove his shoulder, it was a million times better than normal. She had her best friends by her side, a good group of people who supported her around them, a great job opportunity and a place where she could stay where she really felt safe.

Plus, Amethyst thought, she had Jasper Hale in whatever capacity he was willing to give himself to her. And that made life pretty damn good.