CHAPTER FOURTEEN
A New Year


After such an unreasonably stressful year, winter break was a welcome gift. Even better, it was relatively uneventful after the California trip. I didn't see Jasper again, giving me more time to process what had happened that night.

The most stress-inducing moment came when I was researching the city Hannah, Jordan and I vacationed in, trying to find evidence of who that man might have been. I found a news article stating that a young woman had been found almost totally drained of blood. They were calling it an animal attack, but what animal does that to a person? I made a mental note to ask Jasper about it after break, but otherwise didn't want to spend any more time worrying about it. These few weeks were my time to relax and recharge after easily the most taxing year of my life.

Then came the best day of the year not far after. I woke up early in the morning to Laurie jumping on my bed. Even though she was small, her feet were enough to coax a groan from me as they landed on my arm. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and couldn't help but laugh at how excited she was. Over the few months I'd been there, I hadn't once seen Laurie so awake before noon.

"Come on, Aunt Val! Wake up! Daddy says we can't open presents until you're up," Laurie laughed, jumping and landing just beside me, hands grabbing my abdomen for support.

"Hm, I don't know Laurie. I think I might need to get a little more sleep," I teased her, snuggling back into my sheets and closing my eyes.

"You've had enough sleep, woman!" Laurie screeched, throwing her upper body over my own. "Come oooonnnn."

I pretended to be asleep then, letting out the longest snore I could. Laurie wriggled on top of me, pressing her hand against my face. "Wake up! Don't punish me for you staying up all night talking about your boyfriend!"

Boyfriend? Heat spread across my cheeks then, eyes opening wide and sitting up to face her. "Who said I have a boyfriend?"

"You did! You talk loud, Val."

"I never said the word boyfriend, Laurie."

"That's not what I heard." Laurie grinned then with a look that she absolutely learned from Will she began to imitate me. "Oh, Hannah, I don't know what to do! He's so cute but I don't know if I want to get involved. I just love him soooo much."

"Okay, Laur, I don't know that I said that last part."

"You might as well have," Laurie giggled, "When am I gonna meet this guy? I need to approve first."

"When I find a guy that I love, you'll be the first to know."

"Good. Now let's goooo!" Laurie shouted, leaping from the bed and pulling my wrist so I would follow her. I ended up downstairs in the living room still in my pajamas. Will and Rebecca barely contained their amusement as Laurie dragged me into the living room to sit near the tree.

"There's no way she's actually seven. This gremlin has to be at least fifteen," I told Will who could only laugh at me.

"I've been saying that since she was born," my brother answered, shaking his head, "She's too smart for her age."

"And nosy," I joked, turning my head to face the girl who was putting on her best innocent face.

"It's not my fault you're in love with this Jasper guy." The level of sass coming from Laurie's voice was unbelievable, the little traitor.

"Guess who's not sneaking you any more cookies after midnight, you little gremlin."

"Yes, you will. I'm adorable."

"Love?" Will questioned, interrupting us and turning to look at me with surprise clear in his eyes.

"Jasper? Do you mean Jasper Hale? He's a nice kid," Rebecca answered, looking almost excited, "He was so good in my class last year. His report on Gone with the Wind? Truly remarkable."

"Guys, I'm not in love with anyone, especially not Jasper Hale," I tried to protest. This was not the kind of conversation I wanted to be having with my older brother and his wife.

"If you were in love with someone, though, Jasper would be a pretty good pick," Rebecca answered, "You know, there have been rumors going around that you two are-"

"No one is dating anyone, Rebecca. Jasper is actually one of the most annoying people I've met," I protested, falling back to lay on the carpet so harshly the breath flung itself from my lungs. This was utterly humiliating and I would be finding a way to get back at this child.

"You know, I found your brother completely irritating for the first few months I knew him." Rebecca had a silly little smile on her face as if she'd been waiting for years to talk boys with someone else. I imagine she couldn't wait for Laurie to be older so she could start having this conversation with her actual daughter. "Aww, Valerie it's okay if you like him, you're allowed to have some fun before you graduate."

"Oh wow look at that! There's some presents for Miss Laurie here to open," I spoke, desperately trying to change the subject of conversation. From now on, there would be no more calling Hannah and Jordan until I knew Laurie was actually in bed. Rebecca gave me a look that made me think this conversation wasn't over, but thankfully she dropped it for the time being. In truth, I didn't know how to have this conversation with anyone. It felt ridiculous to even think about Jasper in that way. We hardly knew each other.

"Presents!" Laurie squealed, moving to grab the first one near her. "This one says Valerie!" It did? My head snapped up, immediately looking to Will and Rebecca with wide eyes. They thought about me on Christmas? I supposed it shouldn't have been that surprising, but I hadn't expected anything from the pair. They had done enough for me by taking me in when they really didn't have to.

"Guys, you didn't have to g-"

"Of course we did, Valerie. You're a part of this family now," Rebecca answered softly, a smile lighting up her face. "Go on, open it."

I held the smaller box in my hands carefully, fear running through me that I might break it. The paper was a little messily taped on, and with a quick glance at the sheepish look on Will's face, I knew he had done this one. I carefully peeled back the wrapping paper and opened the box to reveal a polaroid camera and some film. I picked it up carefully, turning it over in my hands once before looking back up at my brother and sister-in-law.

"It's your senior year, and we know it's not exactly how you expected it to go but we thought you might like to keep some memories of your time here after you're done," Rebecca explained, speaking quickly as if she were nervous about what I thought of it.

A smile spread wide across my face as I looked between the two adults. "I love it, thank you so much," I told them, hands still holding onto the camera with as much care as one might hold a baby. "This is perfect." In truth, it was perfect. The thought of moving away from Forks was beginning to make me upset, even though I still was excited about the future. I would miss this new family I never knew I had, I would miss the friends I had found here.

The rest of the morning passed quickly, a smile hardly leaving my face for a second. It was so fun to watch Laurie open up all of her gifts. She adored the little toy dinosaur I had found for her, immediately telling me that his name was going to be Cowboy Gideon and he was going to school with her in January; to which Will immediately told her, no, dinosaurs don't go to school. Laurie then proceeded to tell her father that dinosaurs did in fact go to school, since I went to high school and I'm old, immediately causing a throw pillow to land in her face. I wouldn't know how the pillow got there, though. I even managed to snap a picture of Laurie excitedly hugging both of her parents.

Eventually, Laurie ended up passed out on the couch, exhausted from how much excitement had gone on that morning. Will and I ended up sitting in the kitchen, both of us holding on to a cup of coffee. Rebecca went out to the local diner to get the family some pie, leaving the two of us to talk for a few minutes.

"I'm glad you're here, you know," Will spoke up after a couple minutes of silence. "I wish you didn't have to go through so much to get here, but I'm glad I get to know my sister."

"Yeah, I'm glad too."

"I know you weren't excited to be here-"

"I wasn't excited about leaving home. Roseville was the only place I'd known, so the thought of moving so far away was scary," I explained, looking down at my coffee. "I was excited to get to know you though. Mom and Dad didn't talk about you much."

"Our parents and I didn't really see eye-to-eye."

"Yeah, Dad told me," I spoke up carefully, not wanting to hurt his feelings but glad that we were finally starting to talk about all of this. "I remember being with Mom when she found out what happened. That was the only time I ever remember her actually going against something Dad said."

Will was quiet then, probably taking the words in. I decided to continue the conversation for him until he was ready to speak up. "Laurie reminds me of her. I wish she could've gotten to know her."

"Me too. I'm glad she gets to know you, though. You're a good influence on her."

I couldn't help but laugh at that one, shaking my head. "You don't have to be nice, I know I'm not that good of an influence."

"No, you are. Since you've been here, you've shown her how to be confident in herself and be proud of what she's doing. You've given her a role model. Laurie adores you. Mom would be really proud of you," Will explained, glancing over to the couch where his daughter was fast asleep. The words hit me like a punch to the gut then. I'd spent a lot of time in the past several months wondering what Mom would have thought of how I've been acting. I know she'd be horrified with how Jasper and I've been talking, that's for sure. She would have loved Hannah and absolutely adored Rebecca for my brother. "I know you can't wait to get out of Forks, but we'll miss you. I hope you come back and visit sometime."

Just a few months ago, it was true that I couldn't think about anything but when I could leave. This was some town in the middle of nowhere that wouldn't matter in my life when I looked back on the few months I was here. Forks left an impression on me though, and now I can't imagine going forever without seeing everyone again. Even the thought of never visiting my little gremlin sent an ache through my chest. "Don't worry, I'll be coming back so often that y'all will be annoyed with me."

"I dare you to try."

"Oh, it's on now," I laughed, shaking my head at my brother.

"Just know you'll lose, dinosaur."

"Rude!" I yelled, reaching my hand up for something to throw but pouting when there was nothing. "I'm a decade younger than you."

"And yet to Laurie, you look way older. I bet it's all the wrinkles from soccer."

"Soccer doesn't give you wrinkles," I answered, still shaking my head but taking a moment to rest my fingertips on my cheekbone. Did I have wrinkles already? There's no way I was that old already.

"If you say so."

"Well, I say so."

"Wow, you're gonna be a great lawyer with those argumentative skills."

Rebecca saved me then as she walked through the front door; Will rushed over to give her a kiss and help her carry in the desserts. "I'd be careful who you make fun of, Honey. She's gonna be a famous lawyer someday and you're gonna regret that one."

"We have time until that happens, and I'm gonna spend that time making fun of my baby sister."

"Baby? I'm almost eighteen!" I protested, crossing my arms over my chest.

"And I'm twenty-nine so I win," Will laughed, setting down the pies and tossing the plastic bag at me.

"Are you old people done talking? Cowboy Gideon wants Valerie to play with us," Laurie called from the living room, rolling her bright eyes at the three of us.

"Well you can't say no to a cowboy, can you?" Will laughed, raising his eyebrow at me.

"No, I guess you can't."


"I don't know, Hannah, maybe I shouldn't get dressed up." The top was one that I wouldn't have hesitated to wear before the fire. The evergreen halter top tucked into black pants was just enough to let people know I had a figure. It also was all Hannah's idea and at this point, I was ready to wear a t-shirt just to mess with her.

"No, you have to! We'll be so cute but it won't be cute if you don't wear it!" Hannah protested, already pulling on her own shirt. "C'mon, Val, it's prom season. Don't you want a date to senior prom?"

"Isn't it December?"

"And in a few hours, it'll be January, meaning we have to find you a man."

"Why can't we focus on you this time and I'll worry about it later?" Senior prom seemed so far away at this point, as though it was going to be in another lifetime.

"Because I'm not going to have a date. Mike Newton totally ruined it for me, the ass."

"No fair! I don't want a date either, then. We'll all just go together and let Jordan have the adorable date for all of us," I answered, finishing applying the makeup that I would wear that night. According to Hannah, the Newtons always went out of town for New Year's, leaving their son to throw the best party of the year at their house. It was an event that everyone went to if they were someone and an easy way to see who would be going to prom together in a couple months. For me, I was determined to make this the start of the best semester ever. There would be no drama and everything would work out how I wanted it to. It had to.

"I mean, can you believe it? We're about to graduate, Val," Hannah spoke, not looking at me as we both finished our looks for the night. "It feels like we just started high school and now we're all about to split up."

"It doesn't feel real sometimes," I answered, putting away some of my makeup and standing up from my spot on the ground. "I can't wait to find out from Harvard."

"You know you got in, you're brilliant!" Hannah protested, also finishing up.

"Everyone who applies is smart, Han," I returned, the two of us gathering our things before starting to head downstairs. "I just have to go there. I applied to other schools but it won't be the same."

"Okay, but if for some reason you don't get in, which you totally will but just in case, we could go to the same school and room together!" It sounded like a great backup plan, actually. The thought of not getting into my dream school caused my heart to race even then, but if it had to happen then at least I'd get to stay near my closest friend.

"You girls stay safe and out of trouble," Will told us, his gaze lingering on me a little longer. "Don't drink but if you're going to, call me so I can pick you up. You're not driving like that."

"Of course, Mr. Dryden," Hannah answered as we began to walk out the door.

"I told you, it's Will! You make me sound too old," he called after her with a smile.

"Have a good night, Will!" I returned before shutting the door behind us. It was obvious that he was nervous. Considering the last event I'd gone to, I suppose he had a pretty good reason to be nervous. This time though, I would be with friends only. Hannah and I had agreed that guys were just too much drama for us, and tonight would be about us.

Roseville had some pretty great parties. There was nothing like sneaking out to the edge of town to have a bonfire with everyone on a Friday night. There would be booze and loud music and, best of all, absolutely no adults telling us what we could and couldn't do.

This New Year's party beat all of those, though. As soon as Hannah and I walked into the house, a wide smile pulled onto my lips. Almost the entire school had to be there, of that I was sure. Or, at least all the juniors and seniors.

"See what I mean?" Hannah laughed, immediately pulling me through the house to the location of the music. The night was spent dancing, laughing, and overall having a lot of fun. Hannah was drinking, but at this point, it was better that I didn't. Every time I drank in Forks, something bad ended up happening and I was determined to avoid that at all costs.

"Hey, New Girl! Did you hear? You won't be the new girl anymore!" One of the guys in my English class announced, heading over to the pair of us. I'd been in Forks for four months now and a surprising amount of people still only knew me as 'New Girl'. Honestly, the idea of someone else moving in and claiming that title made me feel even better about this semester.

"Really? How do you know?" I asked, holding the solo cup of soda in my hand closer to my body. It wasn't that I didn't trust this guy specifically, but after homecoming, I would be more cautious about everything.

"My dad's a cop. He said Chief Swan won't shut up about how his daughter's moving here from Arizona. Said her name's Isabella," the guy explained. Despite my best efforts, his name wasn't coming to mind. "How's it feel to lose the title, New Girl?"

"Good actually. Maybe then people will stop paying attention to me," I laughed, shaking my head at him. He seemed amused by that, taking a drink from his cup but never taking his eyes off me.

"If you wanted people to stop paying attention, maybe stop talking to the Cullens."

"I don't talk to them."

"Whatever you say, New Girl," he laughed, moving to walk away, but not before pausing and correcting himself, "Valerie Dryden."

"Oh, so now you know my name?" I shouted after him, not able to contain my laugh. The party continued without losing excitement. We celebrated the new year and I drove poor Hannah home who was already bemoaning her hangover in the morning. When we toasted to the new year, I couldn't help but silently toast to this Isabella Swan who would hopefully take some of this attention off of me.


"What do you mean you're not sitting with us today?" Hannah asked as we got our lunches.

"I'm sitting with Jasper today."

That almost made her drop her tray. The blonde looked at me with wide eyes, a smile taking over her face as soon as she realized. "Oh really. You're sitting with the guy you claim you don't like but you really do like because we all know it and I'm never wrong?" She spoke quickly, making me wonder if she truly had to breathe to survive or if she was just magic.

"It's just lunch," I answered, shaking my head. It really was just lunch. That morning I had asked Jasper if he wanted to sit together. I wanted all of this drama between us to be over, especially since he practically saved my life twice already. It was beginning to weigh on my shoulders how rude I was acting toward him after he'd done so much for me, even if he was completely irritating sometimes.

"Okay, okay. You go have your 'just lunch' with him and I'll be here. But you better make sure to tell me every detail after, okay?" Hannah teased with an expression that told me the table's topic of discussion today would be me.

"Deal," I responded before grabbing my tray and heading to the library. It had been Jasper's idea, actually, to not sit in the lunchroom. He didn't explain why but I could only assume that he didn't want any more rumors about us to go around. Unfortunately for him, he clearly didn't know Hannah's abilities to spread gossip. If I had to guess, I'd say the rest of the school would know by the end of the day.

The library was quiet. In fact, there was no one there. We didn't even have a librarian because no books were allowed to be checked out of the room. It was the start of the semester meaning no research needed to be done, leaving me to walk around the room and find the one person who would be there.

It was easy to find him. His golden hair stood out in any room. He was bent over something at the table he was sitting at, probably next week's homework if I had to guess. I couldn't help but notice how calm he was. Whenever he was around other people, tension seemed to fill every one of his muscles. It was even worse when I was around. Now though, with no one watching, Jasper seemed to be at peace. I almost felt bad ruining it.

"Hi," I called out softly, suddenly unsure of why I had even asked. What was the point of this?

"Hello," he returned, lifting his head to look at me. His shoulders tensed as soon as I was near him. It would have been a lie to say it didn't hurt, but I tried to tell myself that maybe he was just nervous.

"You're not eating?" I asked, suddenly noticing the lack of lunch he had near him.

"I'm not hungry," he answered, then leaving me once again without a topic to talk about. Why was it easier to talk to him when I just had a near-death experience?

"I want to call a truce," I finally blurted out as I sat down and got comfortable. It felt strange to sit there and pick at my food when he wasn't eating. Suddenly I was all too conscious of every bite I put into my mouth. Did I eat like a barbarian? "It's a new year and I really don't feel like arguing anymore so I think we should just try to be friends. So, truce?"

That one got me a small smile from him. "I'll raise the white flag," he answered, causing me to return his smile.

"Great," I returned quietly before eating a bit more of my food. The room fell into silence and suddenly I realized how difficult this could be. Before now, I had never tried to have a normal conversation with him. We'd had our banter, but did we ever really talk like friends do? Did we even have anything in common? I had refused to tell him anything about myself before, and now I was practically demanding we be friends? Jasper probably thought I was insane.

"My favorite color's blue, I was Miss Roseville for three years running and I'm really proud of it, and I love staying up late at night when I know no one else is awake because it's just so peaceful." The words fell out of my mouth before I could think about it, speaking quickly as I tried to tell him something about myself. "Your turn," I spoke as I exhaled a breath, suddenly nervous for some reason. It felt better having Emmett between us as a buffer if we needed it.

"You already know a lot about me, Valerie," Jasper told me, suddenly looking not quite as tense as he normally is around me.

"I don't. I mean, I know that thing that I'm definitely not supposed to know about, but I don't know anything about you. Like, do you have any pets? Do you want pets?" It was the first question that came to mind, and from the way he chuckled, I could tell it caught him off guard too.

"In Texas, I owned a horse."

"Are you serious? That's so cool. What was its name?" I asked, leaning forward to hear more. I'm pretty sure it was every girl's dream at some point to have a horse. In middle school, Emily and I had taken horseback riding lessons. Unfortunately, I was horrible at it, practically falling off every time.

"Lilah," Jasper answered as what seemed like a nostalgic smile pulled on his expression. He was looking down at the table, clearly remembering a good memory. "My little sister named her."

"I thought Rosalie was your twin." Those words seemed to bring him back to reality. He shook his head a little before looking back over at me.

"It was a long time ago. It's been years since I've been there."

"Do you want to go back? After high school, I mean."

"Maybe someday," Jasper answered. "Do you want to go back to Alabama?"

Did I? If he would have asked me a couple of months ago, the answer would have been obvious. Alabama would always be my home; I'd grown up there. What did I have left there, though? My family was here in Forks, as are all my friends. "I definitely miss it, but I don't think I'd go back. I like how things are going in Forks right now."

Before we could continue our conversation, the bell rang signaling for us to get to calc. I threw my lunch away before moving to grab my books, but Jasper had beaten me to it. "You don't have to carry my books," I told him, already feeling my cheeks heat up, "I'm perfectly capable."

"Just because you're capable doesn't mean you should have to," Jasper answered, already beginning to walk in the direction of class. This boy would be the death of me, I swear. I jogged a little to catch up before walking in pace with him down the hallway. All of the stares we got were too much and I found myself tilting my head down to face the tile floor, knowing my cheeks would be bright red at this point. Could I not be friends with this guy without everyone noticing?

Walking into calc was even worse. Hannah and Jordan practically dropped their jaws, then proceeded to waggle their eyebrows and pretty much do everything that could possibly embarrass me. I was thankful when we got to our seats in the back of the room, reminding myself to get back at the girls later.

"Your friends seem excited," Jasper spoke up, clearly hiding back a laugh.

"They're sure we're dating," I practically groaned, trying to focus on pulling my calc notebook out and not on him. "And I'm pretty sure half the school thinks so too."

"Is that such a ridiculous idea?"

My head whipped around to face him at that; heart rate jumping to accelerate as fast as possible. "Texas, are you flirting with me?"

"Would I dare? If I were to flirt, it would be after I got to know you." Jasper said it as if it were such a simple statement. The class got started then but I couldn't pay attention. Instead, I tilted my head down to my notebook, even picked up my pen, but just smiled down at it.

This would be a good year.


I realize it's not Wednesday, but I thought I would update early since there was such a long hiatus there and y'all deserve it. I will still be updating on Wednesday(or Thursday depending on how exams go) as planned. Anyway, things start to pick up from here, especially now that a certain someone is in Forks! As always, I would love to know what you think of this chapter and I always love to hear constructive criticism. What do you all think of Valerie and Jasper so far?

Review responses will be below as usual. Thank you all so much for reading and taking the time to review if you can. I appreciate it so much!

rooske01: Thank you for sticking with this story, it means so much to me! I'm so glad you enjoyed the last chapter.

Ghostwriter71: That is still so amazing to hear, thank you. Valerie's definitely not obsessed with Jasper, but she definitely is beginning to be more interested in him. I will say that the man is definitely a vampire and may cause some trouble for them later. Again, thank you so much for reading and supporting this story, every review I get puts a massive smile on my face.

ellorae: Oh goodness, thank you! I'm so glad to hear you feel he's characterized well. There were so many drafts of this story and in each one his response to her was totally different, so I'm glad this one ended up okay! Again, thank you so much for taking the time to review.

Phoenix-Rising29: Thank you so much! I got like the dorkiest smile ever when I read your review, it was so nice to hear. I have to say, I'm really excited to write the next handful of chapters, there are so many things I can't wait to get to. Thank you so much for keeping with this story and I totally agree, Val and Jasper will totally be the death of me too. That line you mentioned was actually supposed to be said way down the road, but I felt like it needed to be in the last chapter. Again, thank you so very much for reading and reviewing.

Guest: Ah, thank you! Sorry for making you wait so long, but I'm glad you're here. I truly appreciate you continuing to read this story and reviewing.