Chapter 9

Who Can Say?

'Dracula, huh?'

Willow glanced down to her book on reflex, the paperback version of Bram Stoker's Dracula at the corner of her desk. 'I needed something completely different than what we've read.'

'So…' he leant his chin on his hand, 'fucking a vampire. Thoughts?'

She blinked, taken aback. 'Well, I've never actually thought on it. I mean, Angel and Spike aren't exactly the best image for having a vampire partner, you get me?'

'Not a fan of Nosferatu?'

'Well considering he sort of looks like a Transylvanian Voldemort, not really ticking my boxes. You?'

He leant back in his seat, arm across the back of her chair. 'I'd be down.'

She huffed a laugh as they packed up, 'Why aren't I surprised by that? Also, what really makes me confused is, would it be considered necrophilia though?'

'Nah.' He denied, walking her to Lit as they talked. 'Because they still have conscious thought and shit. You're thinking of zombies.'

'How would that even work?'

'Maybe they get stuck in a fence?'

'What are you doing in an apocalypse where you see a zombie and be like 'I want to hit that.''

'Maybe you're just really freaky?'

'What are you two talking about?' Rosalie came up behind them and Willow jolted. 'Sorry.'

'It's fine.' She waved off. 'Whether screwing a vampire is considered necrophilia and then Emmett brought up zombies.'

'What?' the blonde laughed, and Willow held up her book as the realisation hit. 'Ah. Makes sense. Go to class, babe.'

Rolling her eyes as they kissed goodbye, Willow was given a fist bump and the two moved into the class where Georgie was already set up by a trio of desks. She already looked like she wanted to be somewhere else entirely.

The fortnight since both her and Derek had split had been tremulous, to say the least. It had been from an unacknowledged agreement that the two couples wouldn't rub it in her face. She had reverted back to the 'Man ain't shit' mindset she'd had before him and whilst Willow still wanted to let Emmett break his legs for hurting her and causing Georgie to fall back into that headspace, she wanted to be there for her friend more.

Derek had unknowingly caused a war to break out within the sports teams. The Cheerleaders may have looked vapid and bitchy to those who didn't know them but they were tight with each other so when Lucy had revealed – with Georgie's permission – what had happened, to say that they were willing to draw blood was an understatement. They didn't. But they were more than willing to try and ruin his reputation within the school.

Nobody said that high school was smooth sailing.

'Would you ever screw a vampire?'

Georgie snorted. 'If they looked like Angel, yes.'

'Really?' Rosalie raised an eyebrow. 'But isn't he so 'I have no soul'?'

'She likes her angst.' Willow offered, 'And thus, her angsty book-slash-tv crushes.'

'He's pretty to look at.'

'True. But he would irritate me too much. Reminds me of Anakin.'

'How does Angel remind you of Anakin?'

'They're whiney.'

Rosalie decided to get out a piece of paper and drew up a table as they waited for the teacher to show up. 'Wait, let me write this down. Emmett is obviously a 'yes''

'It's Emmett.' Georgie and Willow chorused.

'Georgie is a yes. Willow?'

She rested her chin on her hand, drumming her fingers. 'I can't help but think that there're more pros than cons. So yeah. You?'

'Stamina and I think it'd be fun.'

Why did she think that she was missing something here?

'Alright, finals prep!'

'Who here would fuck a vampire?'

Jasper's head snapped around towards them as the girls settled down at the table. 'What?'

'Would you fuck a vampire?' Rosalie prodded him.

'What were you doing in Literature?'

'Willow's reading Dracula.'

Her boyfriend raised an eyebrow at her and she shrugged, eating a carrot. 'If I have to read some classic with a feminist reading that ends up with innocent people being murdered, I will poke my eyes out with a plastic spoon.'

Edward leant back in his seat. 'Isn't The Crucible about witches?'

'Yes.' She nodded. 'But it's never revealed that it's magic which is irritating and annoying. Dracula, it's actually revealed that vampires are killing people so you know who the villain is.'

'It also helps that there's a character in the book with your name.'

Emmett cocked his head. 'I thought your name was just Willow?'

She shook her head lightly, leaning back into Jasper's arm. 'No, my mother named me Wilhelmina but Dad called me Willow because a) it's an older name and b) it can sometimes be difficult to spell and Forks isn't exactly the smartest of small towns. Anyway, we're digressing. Back to the question, what's your answer?'

'Is it technically necrophilia?'

Willow pointed to Lucy, 'No because Emmett and I have decided that because vampires are of sane mind and body, they have the ability to give willing consent.'

Lucy thought about it and then nodded. 'I can see that. As long as I either a) die happy or b) don't die at all, I'd do one.'

The clicking of a pen caused the boys to look towards Rosalie who had just gotten the list out of her Literature file. 'Wait, you guys have a list?'

'It's a scientific question, Scott.' Georgie threw a tomato at him and Willow cut a hand across the both of them.

'No. I will put you in opposite corners. This is a civil conversation.'

'But what if by…'

'- fucking a vampire.' Emmett rolled his hand towards Edward impatiently.'

'—yes that, you run the risk of having no soul?'

Georgie chirped. 'Well, then I'll save you all a place in Hell when we get there.'

'But I don't do well in hot areas.' Willow pouted.

Georgie reached over to take her face. 'You'll be in Hell, Wills, no one will give a shit. Scotty, yeah or nah?'

'Yeah.'

Alice took it up wordlessly. 'I'd give it a go. Might be fun. Jazz?'

'Go for it.' He grinned lazily. They all turned to Edward, expectantly.

Alice started to poke at him repeatedly in the bicep. 'Answer the question.'

Shifting, Willow thought of a scenario to help him decide. 'Right, okay. Say a vampire wants to…lay with you and they are of sane mind, as in no drink or drugs within their system, would you consent to sleeping with them? Biblically.'

He frowned as he thought about it after slapping Alice's hand on his arm. 'Yes.'

'Congrats, guys.' Emmett grinned. 'We're all vampire fuckers.'

Georgie and him high fived as everyone settled back down again. Snacking quietly beside Jasper, Willow brought her knees up again and settled back in to read. She had a nicer copy – two technically if she counted the version at Mother's – but they didn't move. Stupid, she knew. But she liked having a set of her favourite books that could be battered and flung around in her bag. Plus, the leather-bound copies she had were so very pretty on her shelf with her plants.

She was jolted heavily by the bell going and had to take a second to swallow her heart. Jasper's cold hand smoothed up and down her back for a minute as her pulse slowed and Willow managed to gather her crap to head to French. Kissing Jasper softly, Willow let Lucy and Scott guide her towards their class, casually moving around feet as she read.

Sitting down in class, Lucy wiggled her fingers for it and Willow handed the bookmarked piece over with a heavy sigh, focusing upon the class.

'Crawford!' Mr Kost crowed as she walked in. 'What number are you up to?'

'Nearly finished my last one.'

'Who is?'

'Emmeline Pankhurst.' She shrugged. 'One of the prominent faces in the Women's Liberation Movement and founder of the Women's Social and Political Union.'

'Nice.' He nodded before allowing her to mosey on back to where she and Jasper had claimed their table.

'Hey, you.' Willow hummed as she chucked her stuff down. Jasper was on painting number nine but she had faith in his ability to get everything done.

'Afternoon, doll.'

He had been doing that a lot recently, testing out nicknames. For some reason, his drawl on that word made it sound like he should have been in an old Hollywood film. Willow found herself not minding it. Kissing him gently on the cheek quickly, she found her painting and palette and fell back into her work, this time with the Phantom of the Opera going in her ear. She had to physically restrain herself from not dramatically miming playing the pipe organ and mouthing out the words.

She knew that Jasper already knew how much of a musical nut case she was by this point, however…the rest of Forks did not. Mouthing along with The Angel of Music, she began the tedious background. Glancing at her concept piece along with the faint pencil outline of the suffragette rosette, the middle of the bloom was behind Mrs Pankhurst's head and the ribbons created a halo around her. The Union's slogan was along the bottom in calligraphy that took longer than she'd like to admit. The ends of the rosette would swirl around Mrs Pankhurst and back the letters. She had a few more hours of work left but Willow was hopeful she'd get it done by the end of the week.

Willow used the back of her hand to push up her glasses as she stepped away to gain a better perspective. Making a face, knowing it was getting there, she glanced over to where Jasper was working. His arms were nice – no, Willow, focus on your work.

Wow, Eric has still so dramatic. He was lamenting to Christine about making the music of the night and to be honest, he was a little possessive, prone to mood swings and was more than a little mental. Really, as good as a set of pipes he had as well as a spectacular view on music, Raoul was the better choice. Seriously. Yes, whilst Raoul was a little condescending and used his fiancée as bait, he didn't trick, trap or threaten Christine.

Wait, what had this to do with her work?

She paused, thinking on that point. 'What?'

Her heart lurched in her chest and she turned to see Jasper raising an eyebrow at her. 'Jesus…what what?'

'Your brows scrunch when you're confused.' He gestured with the brush. 'What is it?'

'Oh, my thoughts decided to go down the rabbit hole of who was better for Christine, Raoul or Erik – the Phantom.'

Jasper wondered briefly what Edward thought on that. 'And your conclusion?'

'Raoul.'

'Doesn't he suggest for her to be bait?'

'Yes…which is not good, however,' she pointed towards him before she turned her attention back to the painting in progress, 'he doesn't kidnap, trap, trick, threaten or give her an ultimatum. Nor, does he subject her to living in a very aesthetically pleasing sewer lair under the Paris Opera.'

'You got me there.'

'But yes, she is a singer, a performer, the Phantom's near-genius when it comes to creating pieces may appeal to her, especially since he wishes to have her star in them. However, his hot and cold temper, in which he can be extremely physical and very well noted mental illness, considering that in the book – yes, it was a book – as well as in the musical, are all huge big red flags.'

Jasper had started to pack up as she went into further detail about why Raoul was the better choice. Her eyes sparkled behind her glasses that kept sliding down her nose and there was a splash of emerald across the tip of it from her absent habit. Moving over to her, he catalogued his movements to not spook her and cupped her shoulders from behind, whispering to her. 'As much as I don't want to interrupt, the bell is about to go.'

'—oh.' She cut herself off and briefly wondered how long she'd been ranting. 'Sorry.'

'Don't apologise.' Jasper murmured, kissing the back of her head gently, soothing the uncertainty away. 'Edward would find your reasonings interesting too.'

Willow nodded before she gathered her things that needed to be rinsed over to the sink. The paintbrushes were slotted into the fabric wrap when they were rinsed and reshaped. She had everything tucked away by the time the bell had gone and took Jasper's wiggling fingers, paintbrushes in the crook of her arm.

'Plans for the weekend?'

Willow nudged up her glasses, 'Erm, I've got a wedding to help get flowers ready for on Sunday. Whether that means that Mary needs people to cart them over or just make them up is undecided yet but it's only down in Port Angeles which isn't too far and we've already got the arrangements sorted so it'll be fine. You?'

His thumb smoothed over the back of her knuckles absently as they walked to their cars, parked beside each other. Setting her bag on the passenger side, Willow turned to him, listening as he spoke, 'I have a physics paper to write for Monday so I'll probably spend most of the weekend doing that and I think we're going to play some baseball too.'

'You lot play baseball?' Willow cocked her head, enjoying having him close as they waited for the others to get out of class.

Jasper tucked a loose stand behind her ear and nodded. 'Oh yeah, what about you? You into sports?'

'Slapstick and if you want to know the rules and regulations of Quidditch,' Willow blushed, the tip of her finger tapped gently against his sternum, 'I'm your girl. Actual sport? Not a much of a clue. Dad's not really into it and the only vague concept of sports I do know is tennis but that's because—'

'—because your mother has for some reason a tennis court in New Hampshire.' Georgie interrupted as she sauntered up to her truck with Rosalie.

'Yep.' She grimaced, awkward.

Rosalie grinned. 'We have to get you to play baseball with us then.'

Oh Lordy… 'Not this week, I have a wedding to do flowers for.'

'Oh, who's that for?' Alice came skipping up with Edward trailing behind.

Willow nudged her glasses up. 'Sadie and Michael near Johnson. Sadie runs the daycare and Michael is a mechanic near the La Push reservation. Good people. Met here actually.'

'Really cute.'

Leaning into Jasper, Willow looked towards Edward. 'Who's better for Christine?'

'Raoul though I could argue Erik.'

She made a face. 'Why?'

'It's the musician in me.'

'Oh boo.' Both Lucy and her chorused as the final member of their friends wandered up.

The taller girl continued, 'We don't support unhealthy relationships in this friend group, Mr Cullen,' her hand reached and patted his cheek and Willow probably saw three girls gasp behind them, 'so we only support Raoul and Christine.'

'I appreciate his melodrama.' Edward argued.

'Do you appreciate him giving her an ultimatum?'

Willow absently chucked the lyrics to back up her, focusing on Jasper's collar where he had it caught under his coat. 'Start a new life with me. Buy his freedom with your love!. Refuse me and you send your lover to his death!. This is the choice. This is the point of no return' – Down Once More/Track Down This Murderer for those who had no idea what I was quoting.'

Edward tongued his cheek. 'You may have a point.'

'Thank you.' Lucy curtsied and waved goodbye from over by her car. She had a voice lesson down in Port Angeles at five.

Emmett looked over to her. 'You know musicals off by heart, don't you?'

'Majority, but that's because my lizard brain decides that I have to listen to it over and over and over again until I can't without wanting to cry in pain. There are still warmups that I can't listen to without feeling as if my nightmares have come to life.'

'Lean on me…'

'No.' she shuddered, pointing towards the car she leant on as Georgie hummed the song. 'Get in the truck.' That song had been the warm-up for the past two musicals and Willow honestly felt shivers run down her spine in defence. The Cullens laughed and took that as the mark to start heading home. Going up on her toes, she wrapped her arms around Jasper's shoulders, bringing him down for a kiss.

'I'll text you when I get home.' Willow murmured and hummed happily when he kissed her again.

'If you get bored, don't hesitate to ask me to entertain you.'

Confidence bloomed in her as she pulled back, grinning up at him. 'We'll have to keep it PG since I'll most likely still be in public and we wouldn't want to scar young eyes.'

'Miss Crawford.' He gasped playfully and she couldn't stop the giggle.

'Bye.'

Jasper snuck one last kiss and then tugged her door open for her. 'I'll you get the kids home then.'

'Unless I murder them first.'

The twins had begun bickering over the radio and Willow just couldn't wait to be in her bed. 'See you later, doll.'

'Bye, Jasper.' The door was shut and the truck turned on. 'So help me God, if you two do not stop, you will walk home.'

Jasper laughed as he swung into the Volvo and Alice was bouncing in her seat. 'I can't wait for her to play with us.'

'She has no idea how sports work.'

'She has good hand-eye coordination.' Edward offered as he reversed out. 'Besides, her rhythm is good too.'

'How do you know?' Emmett asked from where his arm was slung across Rosalie's shoulders.

'Her and Scott know the fight choreography between Darth Maul and Obi-Wan Kenobi.' Alice grinned. 'Full speed but without the higher flips, because you know, they're human and can't jump that high. You should ask them to do it at Halloween.'

'Wicked.'

IN CELEBRATION FOR MY DOCUMENTARY BEING IN (THANK FUCK), YOU ALL GET A NEW CHAPTER!

To be honest with y'all, this chapter frequently had me giggling when I was writing it so I hope you all enjoy it too.

If you all haven't realised at this point, I, myself, am a musical nerd and the tipbit about the warm-ups causing shivers is the same for me except its a MIKA song - Happy Ending/Over My Shoulder - and Beyonce's Single Ladies that cause me to physically revolt. Still. And I've been out of high school for three years now. Fucking Choir.

Also, if you haven't figured it out - yes, the Cullens are trolling them.

Enjoy,

Kxx

PS. For those that don't know, i have a Pinterest board for this - the link is on my profile that you can give a peruse and a follow if you want. I still add to it if my goblin self is like 'OOOOOH PRETTY COLOUR'