Amethyst picked at her pizza, unsure of why she had even really purchased it. It had looked much better before it had been on her tray. She was eating lunch with Jasper that Tuesday, though, and she refused to ever show her indecision in front of him.

She glanced over at her normal lunch table, smiling when Angela met her gaze. The brunette crossed her eyes at her friend who giggled, but behind her Ben stuck his thumbs into his ears and wiggled his fingers. Amethyst started cracking up, making Angela turn to see what was going on behind her.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed her tray being switched out for another one. The girl turned to see a water, chicken nuggets and a salad in front of her instead of the pizza she really hadn't wanted anymore. She looked up at Jasper who had a small smile on his face. Rolling her eyes, she reached out to take her juice back from her original tray.

"Thank you."

"The pizza didn't look too good up there."

"It looked better up there than it did on my tray."

Jasper gazed down at it with a mildly disgusted look on his face. "I suppose that isn't saying much."

"It probably isn't," she said, shaking the Italian dressing packet before she opened it.

The pair were in their third week of eating lunch together, and it was often just as awkward as it was for the first time. Jasper obviously knew how Amethyst was feeling, but his siblings provided him with other advantages, such as what the girl wished she had picked up for lunch.

She hadn't spoken to the rest of his family since discovering their secret, and part of her wished things were different. Even though Edward was busy almost constantly fawning over Bella, Amethyst missed his dry sense of humor and being able to talk about the world with him. She missed Alice's energy and passion about life. She even missed Emmett reaching over during government to doodle on the top of her notes, an action that had gotten them both reprimanded a few times by their teacher.

Of course, that didn't change who or what they were. She only consented to the lunch meetings with Jasper because she knew, however unfortunately, that she was still in love with him.

"Have you given any thought to prom?"

Amethyst glanced at him, surprised by the question. "No."

"Not one?"

"I work on Saturdays."

He leaned closer. "But you went to the dance a few months ago after work."

"Yeah, and I was dead the next day," she said, opening a ketchup packet.

"How about we make a little bet?"

Amethyst snorted. "Not a chance. You guys literally have every advantage, and I'm not stupid enough to let you play me like that."

"Humor me. It would benefit you as well."

She sighed and pulled her arms away from the table, crossing them over her chest.

"Ben is going to ask Angela to prom before the end of the day."

"Absolutely not fair. You guys can know that definitively, and you can manipulate the situation."

Jasper held up a hand to silence her. "This wager is about something that has not been decided yet. It involves you, and I told Alice to stay out of your future unless a necessary situation arises."

"And what exactly would be considered a necessary situation?"

"You know, stray vampires, reckless choices, or we have to coordinate our outfits."

"I can see you have your priorities in order," she said, rolling her eyes to ignore the fact that she was actually kind of terrified by the idea of stray vampires being in the area.

His smile slipped away. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to scare you."

"I'm getting used to it. But there's no way I can see a bet working out in my favor. How about a challenge instead?"

"A challenge?"

"Set your terms and I'll explain the conditions."

"If I win, I get to take you to prom."

Amethyst sighed heavily, going back to her food. "I already told you that I don't want to go."

"And I heard what you said. But I really want to take you."

"I thought we agreed to work on this not being about just you anymore."

Jasper blinked a few times before looking away. "You're right. I'm sorry. Forget I ever brought it up."

They were silent for a while longer before Amethyst gave up on the awkwardness.

"I get to skip track practice Thursday."

"I thought you loved track practice," he said with a raised eyebrow.

"I do. But having a day off from sprints will probably make my leg muscles do some kind of celebratory dance."

He smiled slightly. "Where are you going to be instead?"

"My photography project," Amethyst replied with a small smile. Carrie's mother, Mrs. Fischer, had called her back about a week after seeing each other at the library. She had asked to speak to the girl's teacher about the project, as she had apparently spoken with Chloe about her before calling. Whatever Mrs. Constantino had said to the woman, she had been much more relaxed about the idea of the girl photographing her daughter.

"The girl's mother actually agreed to you?"

"Apparently I had some really good references. But I get to go photograph Carrie while she's at her class, which is in a school for the deaf that's closer out to Port Angeles. It's about a half an hour drive, but I'm so excited to be able to tell her story."

"Sounds as if you got rather lucky."

Amethyst paused with her fork halfway to her mouth, eyes narrowing. "You didn't have anything to do with it, did you?"

"No," Jasper said with a small chuckle. "This one was all you."

She nodded before going back to her food, surprised by how hungry she was.

"Any other big plans for the next few weeks?" the boy asked, picking up her spoon she wasn't using to spin it through his fingers.

"Track meet is in two weeks, so I'm going to have to work that out with the library to make sure I have enough hours. Then the weekend after is prom, and then my photography project is due that Friday, so I need to make sure all my photographs are together for that."

He raised an eyebrow. "Do you have time to do anything else?"

"I also have to go to La Push with the principal at some point to make my contacts for my summer project." Amethyst jumped when the spoon he was playing with snapped, sending small plastic shards in her direction. "Dude, what the hell?"

"You're not going to La Push."

"And you clearly aren't thinking straight," she said, picking a piece of the plastic spoon out of her hair. "Could you at least pretend to be normal?"

"You're not going to La Push," he repeated, leaning forward to pick a piece off of her sweater. "I'm sorry about the spoon, but I am not going to change my statement."

"Why not?"

"Because it's dangerous."

Amethyst snorted as she rolled her eyes, picking up her juice. "Oh no, whatever will I do in a dangerous situation. Imagine me purposefully putting myself in the way of danger."

Jasper didn't appreciate her joke, his expression not changing.

She sighed in defeat. "Right. Are you at least going to tell me why this time?"

"I can't."

"Great. Just damn great."

"Listen to me, Amethyst. I cannot protect you if you go to La Push, and there could be things over there you don't want to run into."

She pushed back her chair. "Because everything is just sunshine and rainbows over here. I'm not playing this game again." The brunette grabbed her tray and walked over to her normal table, sliding in next to Angela. Everyone at the table passed her small smiles; it was not the first time she had walked away from Jasper in the middle of lunch.

Amethyst allowed her eyes to wander around the cafeteria, noticing Jasper hadn't moved from their spot at the table. Electric blue eyes glanced over him to Edward and Bella, the two of them looking totally wrapped up in each other from their spot away from everyone else. The girl reached over to nudge Tyler, nodding at the couple.

"Do Jasper and I look like that?"

Tyler glanced over to the pair, snorting before he looked back to her. "No. Most of the time you two look like you're arguing or ignoring each other."

She felt pleased by his statement, but there was also a sense of guilt battling in her stomach. It didn't matter that she was determined to make him prove that he would be better if they were to reenter their relationship, she still loved the guy.

As Amethyst walked to practice that day, she was digging through her bag to find her other track shoe. She frowned into the bag, turning to Tyler.

"Can I have your car keys? I think I lost one of my shoes in the trunk."

Her friend snorted as he handed them over. "How did you manage that?"

"You never exactly bother to clean anything out, so I must've lost it amongst your junk," the brunette defended with an eye roll before turning to stomp back to the car.

She popped the trunk, digging through to find her other shoe underneath the jumper cables that were laying in the back. Although she wasn't entirely sure how it had ended up there, she grabbed it and shut the trunk, turning toward the gym.

A couple caught her eye just a few cars down from her, and she eyed Angela and Ben carefully. Her friend was about three inches taller than the boy, but looked to be in heaven as she talked to him. A smile began to creep up on Amethyst's face as she realized what was happening between the two of them.

"I told you so," Jasper murmured from behind her, wiping the smile off her face instantly.

Amethyst whipped around to face him, annoyance written all over her face. "Not only are you intent on keeping more secrets from me, but now you have to come rub it in my face that you have access to information I don't because of your supernatural status? Thanks, but you can kindly kiss my ass."

He raised an eyebrow. "Language."

"Oh, my apologies. You may place your lips upon my posterior for all of the super fun stuff you're doing right about now."

"You're in quite a mood," Jasper said, fighting to keep a smile off his lips.

She sighed, looking away from him to glance at her watch. "I'm almost late for practice. Did you actually need something?"

"I wanted to apologize for my reaction earlier, but I also wanted to ask you about prom again. I really do want you to go with me."

"And I wanted a normal relationship."

A frown pulled at his lips, but he didn't otherwise reply.

"Fine. I'll meet you in the middle. Come to my track meet the week before prom. If I podium in all my events, I win. If not, you win and I will go to prom and even dance with you while I'm there, but it will not be a date."

"And if you win?"

" I get to go to prom with someone else."

Jasper stiffened. "No. Absolutely not. Not only are you asking me to bet against you, but you seem to think I wouldn't care if you showed up with another person."

"It's about me too, remember? And if I'm going to make myself go to this thing, I might as well be happy about it. Now, I'm going to practice. If you decide not to take the deal, I'm not going to prom at all. You have until Friday." Amethyst spun on her heel, hurrying to make it in time before another thought occurred to her. "And if you cheat, I will know," she called, starting to run in her heels toward the locker rooms.

Thursday, she pulled on a pair of black jeans, a flowing white tank top and a teal sweater, pinning all of her hair back from her face. She put on more makeup than had become routine for her, really trying to make sure she would look her best for her project that day.

Even though it was a day when she normally ate lunch with Jasper, she spent the meal with her friends, not paying attention even when Lauren loudly pointed out that the blonde was sitting alone without her.

After government, the girl hurried out to her car, tossing her bag and camera into the passenger's seat before jumping in excitedly. Amethyst had printed off the directions at home that morning, so she followed them onto the interstate, tapping her steering wheel excitedly.

The school was the equivalent of about one of the buildings at Forks High School, surprising the brunette when she parked in front of it. Mrs. Fischer was waiting under the overhang for her, smiling when she approached.

"Hi, Mrs. Fischer," Amethyst said, extending her hand with a smile. "Thank you again for letting me do this."

The woman smiled as she led her into the building, handing over the guest pass that she pinned to her shirt. "When we got home that day, all Carrie wanted to know about was what you had asked about as we were leaving. She told all of her friends here about it before we had even said yes," she said with a chuckle. "After your teacher reassured us about the way the images would be used, I didn't see how we could say no."

"I still do really appreciate it." The pair stopped outside of a window, looking in at the class. "I can't wait to tell her story."

"Chloe is one of four in her age group, while a total of ten children attend the school."

Amethyst glanced at the woman in surprise. "That's it?"

"You'd be surprised how few people in the area suffer from hearing loss. You do have to be legally deaf to come to this school, but that doesn't mean you can't hear at all. An older boy received a cochlear implant not too long ago, but Chloe functions well enough without one."

"And she's completely deaf?"

Mrs. Fischer nodded. "She was born without the ability to hear. We tried to teach her to speak for a while when she was about three, but she got frustrated so easily. Here, she does learn lip reading skills and sign language, and they give her the option to learn to speak."

The women continued to watch for a while longer until the group moved to a table for snacks. Mrs. Fischer opened the door for her, smiling and gesturing the girl inside.

Amethyst waved to Chloe, smiling when her face lit up at the sight of the older girl. She immediately began to make a motion with her hands, pointing to the girl repeatedly.

"She's saying camera," a man said with a smile, walking over to her. "Chloe has been calling you camera ever since the project came up." He made gestures with his hands as he spoke, amazing Amethyst at the fluency with which he signed and spoke.

The brunette's smile grew. "How would I tell her it's nice to see her?"

The man showed her the basic gestures which she attempted to copy to the little girl. Chloe then made a motion that looked as if she were wiping her face, so Amethyst turned back to the man.

He laughed. "She's calling you beautiful. Hi, I'm Mr. Miller."

Amethyst shook the man's hand happily, growing even more excited about the project by the minute. She spent the next hour photographing different angles of the class, loving how expressive Chloe's face and hands were. The little girl could tell an entire story without ever speaking a word, amazing the brunette.

While parents were arriving to pick up their children, Amethyst went off to the side to scribble down all the information she had learned throughout the day. She filled page after page of the notebook she kept in her camera bag, smiling the entire time.

The Fischers made their weekly trip to the library after school, and the brunette followed along behind them. Carrie was constantly bringing books over for her to hold, making it difficult for the girl to adjust her focus as she watched the child run all over the children's section.

Amethyst's favorite moment was when the little girl pulled a basket of puppets over to her. The brunette sat down on the other side of it, watching as she carefully pulled each one of them out one by one to lay flat on the ground. Chloe reached over and took one of her hands, guiding it to the dog puppet. She pulled it on, giggling with the little girl as she made it wiggle through the air. When her hands began flying, the girl looked over to Mrs. Fischer.

The woman smiled and crouched down. "She said the dog is a great dog." Pausing, she signed something to her daughter. "She means super dog, because it can fly. Its name is Magic."

She stared at Chloe in wonder as the girl continued to sign out stories about each one of the puppets to her mother. Amethyst was sure she hadn't been that imaginative as a child, and seeing the little girl smile and truly enjoy playing was amazing to her.

When she finally got home that night, she tucked her camera bag into her center console before heading inside. The Crowleys were already eating dinner when she entered, so she made her way into the dining room.

"Hey, good time with your project?" Tyler asked, passing her a bun for a hamburger.

Amethyst grinned as she plopped down into her chair, tucking one of her legs underneath her. "Much better time than you had at practice, I'm sure." She reached out for the spatula, grabbing one of the hamburgers off the plate on the table. "Do any of you know sign language?"

Tyler and Mr. Crowley shook their heads, but Mrs. Crowley seemed to be considering her question.

"I haven't had to use it in a very long time, but one of my friends had a deaf sibling while I was in school. I'm so rusty I probably couldn't even say hello. Signing certainly is a talent."

"It really is," she agreed, grabbing cheese and tomato. "I think I'd really like to learn."

"I'm certain there are tutorials on the internet. We can always look around here to see if I still have the book I originally used to try and learn, but you'll probably have more luck looking things up online."

Amethyst dug into her hamburger happily, pleased with the progress she had made that day. "I also talked to Chloe while I was there. She said she would be willing to give me two four hour shifts after track practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays so I can go to track meets or anything else I need to do on Saturdays. That's only as long as Angela is working, of course."

"How do you have enough time to breathe with everything else you do?"

She kicked out toward Tyler, rolling her eyes with a small smile on her face. "Some of us are talented enough to not have to physically remind ourselves to breathe constantly. Imagine that."

After clearing off the table, the two teenagers settled in to do homework. Amethyst cranked out her lab report for chemistry before turning to her calculus with a sigh, knowing the material wouldn't hold her attention as well.

Her mind did wander as she worked her way through the problems, eventually making her annoyed enough to throw her pencil down against the table.

Tyler raised an eyebrow. "I know you hate retaking calculus, but there's no need to take it out on the table."

"I can't focus on it," she said, going over to grab a diet soda and a sports drink from the fridge. She slid the drink across the table to Tyler, opening her soda. "It literally takes a fraction of my mind's energy to be able to do it, and so I end up thinking about anything and everything else."

"What're you thinking about today?"

Amethyst sighed, picking at the top of her drink. "Jasper and prom."

"Did he ask you?"

"Yeah."

"And?"

She rolled her eyes slightly. "It's like you run a gossip mill with the way you interrogate me about drama."

"I'm just looking out for a friend," Tyler defended, throwing his eraser at her. "But seriously, what did you say?"

"I made him a bet. If I podium in all my events at the meet coming up, I get to go with whoever I want. If I don't, I still go and have to dance with him, but it's not a date," Amethyst said, finally cracking her drink open.

The boy snorted. "Seems as if he drew the short end of the stick there."

"He shouldn't have been a self-serving asshole, then."

"Language," Mrs. Crowley called from the living room, making a small smile quirk up on the girl's face.

"But you really are being tough on him."

Amethyst sighed, pulling her homework back toward her. "Take note. You lie to me, hurt me, however you want to put it, same thing happens to you."

"Why do you still talk to him if you're that over your relationship?" Tyler questioned, flipping his worksheet over.

She was quiet for a moment. "Because I love him," she finally said, writing down her solution. "No matter how miserable it makes me, I'm more miserable without him. Jasper has done a lot wrong, but he still makes me happy in a way no one else does. Our good moments are so great, and even the bad parts aren't quite so bad."

"Then forgive him. It sounds as if you already have."

"There are some things I just don't know how to forgive," Amethyst said finally, closing her book and heading upstairs to go to bed.

A/N:

Huge thanks to Lucifae for being willing to beta read for me, and LoveFollowsMe for being willing to help me talk through everything. You guys rock.

Of course, I look forward to hearing from all of you about ideas you have for the story or major plot points and such. As always, I hope you guys enjoy.

-Situation