Chapter 27 (Bella POV)
I was starting to get anxious. It was 9:56 pm and I hadn't heard from Jasper since he'd left earlier. I gripped the cell phone he'd given me with white knuckles. I'd already promised myself that I wasn't going to bother him, I was sure he'd have a good reason for his late arrival. I nearly jumped out of my skin when the small device vibrated in my hands. I flipped it open to find that Jasper had texted me and breathed a sigh of relief.
Bella, I'm sorry, I should have texted sooner. I'm running behind but I'll be there soon.
I set the phone on my nightstand and tried to relax. Charlie had just went to bed, the house was quiet as I waited eagerly for any sign that Jasper was close by. I watched the clock as the minutes passed by painfully slow. I couldn't be sure if I was imagining it, but it felt like my heart was actually aching the longer that I waited for him. He didn't bother using his gift to let me know he was there, I was startled as he seemingly came out of no where and was suddenly inside my room. I smiled and went to meet him over by my window, but stopped dead in my tracks a few feet away from him. My smile faded as I got a better look at him, he was clearly distraught and there was blood on the collar of his shirt. Even though I knew that the sight should have alarmed me, I carefully walked closer to him.
"Jasper. . . is everything okay?" I asked, my voice shaking a bit. He stared at the floor, his hands clenched into fists at his sides. After a moment I went over to my dresser, I kept my eyes on him as I pulled out a t-shirt that I knew was big on me and went over to hand it to him. He shook his head a bit and seemed to come out of his daze. I didn't need his gift to feel the fear seeping from him when he looked into my eyes.
"Shit." He muttered, taking the shirt and tugging at his collar to observe his mess. "I'm sorry Bella, I probably should have went home first. I just . . . needed to see you."
"No, I mean, I'm glad you came straight here. It's fine. I needed to see you too." I brought my hand to my chest, noticing that the pain was gone.
He took off his jacket and laid it across the rocking chair in the corner of my room. He started to take his shirt off, but looked over to me nervously, then I remembered his scars. I could tell that he was self conscious and I tried focusing on my love for him, hoping to encourage him. He sighed and began to pull off his bloody long sleeved t-shirt. It felt intrusive to stare, but I couldn't make myself look away. My mouth fell open upon seeing Jasper's bare chest for the first time and it wasn't because of the scars, though there were a lot of them. He was absolutely breath taking. Before I'd made the conscious decision, I was in front of him, placing my hands carefully on his chest, worried he would disappear if I made any sudden moves. He dropped the shirt from his hands and wrapped me in an almost too tight embrace. He quickly sensed my discomfort and loosened his hold a bit, I slid my arms up and wrapped them behind his neck. He lifted me off the ground and buried his face in my neck, inhaling my scent. I wanted his lips on mine, but I tried to push the thought away as quickly as it came, feeling selfish for letting my thoughts run wild when he was so clearly upset.
"Jasper, what happened?" I asked a bit breathlessly as he let me go. He picked up my shirt from the floor and put it on, too quickly for my eyes to register. My nerves began to grow as I watched him pace the floor.
"It's Edward." My heart jumped into my throat upon hearing his name. I grabbed his hand and pulled him over to my bed to sit down.
"So he did catch my scent?" I asked, expecting the worst.
"No, but your scent is so powerful to him, that even just the faintest remnants of it mixing with those of the other students is almost too much for him. I asked him to leave, but he's set on staying and trying to tough it out and he's got Carlisle's support, which pretty much seals the deal."
"Has Carlisle ever been wrong?"
"Just because someone's never been wrong doesn't mean that they're entitled to a clean record forever."
"You said yourself that you trusted Edward. Has something changed?" He sighed before answering my question.
"It's hard to explain, I'm starting to notice a pattern. On your first day, he was also hostile and bitter, I didn't think much of it, he hadn't fed in a while and I'd just chalked it up to the chaos of the day. When he came back from Alaska, he was fine - back to his usual demeanor, but today he had the same look, the same hostile emotions as last week. It was more of a shock today because it happened so quickly, he'd just fed hours before school. So to answer your question, yes I trust Edward . . . the normal Edward, but I did not recognize the eyes that I looked into before he left today." He stared ahead, his face was hard and thoughtful. I didn't like seeing him like this.
I tried to hold myself together and found that I was actually doing an okay job. You always hear that in times of crisis one person in the relationship usually stays calm while the other one freaks out, it seemed to be my turn to stay calm, which was a surprise even to me. Something in my gut had already told me not to trust Edward, so maybe that's why I was able to control my nerves so well. I'd already been desensitized to the possibility that he may, just in fact, snap and kill me one day. I'd already decided days ago that I was willing to take my chances with staying in Forks so that I could be with Jasper and I hadn't changed my mind. If anything, I was only falling deeper and deeper in love with him by the minute. There was no amount of danger that could keep me away from him.
"Hey, look, everything is going to be okay. Do you want to lay down . . . maybe try to relax?"
"I should be the one telling you that." He looked at me with sad eyes, they looked glossier than usual.
I reached up to touch his face and he tilted his head to kiss the palm of my hand. The room around me began to disappear as I sunk into Jasper's gaze like quicksand. His cold lips somehow always left my skin burning. I'd tried to behave myself during the movie earlier, but I couldn't take it anymore. I pulled him towards me as I laid down. My heart pounded as he carefully climbed on top of me. He was mindful of supporting his weight so that he wouldn't crush me. He looked into my eyes before placing gentle kisses all over my face, finally ending on my lips. This kiss seemed urgent and less careful than the ones before, I started to feel dizzy. I gasped for air as his lips moved to my neck, they lingered on my throat for what I could have sworn felt like just a moment too long before he kissed my collar bone and moved to lay beside me, letting out a deep husky sigh. I laid still, it felt like the room around me was spinning as it came into focus.
"You should get some sleep Bella." The words were muffled, his face buried in my pillow. I ran my fingers through his curls and watched them bounce back perfectly into place and sighed. I wasn't really tired, but I could tell that he was still hurting, I figured maybe he wanted the peace and quiet. He reached over and turned out my light. His arms wrapped around me as I settled into a comfortable position and I started to feel the calming effects of his gift pull me out of consciousness.
I'm standing next to my truck in the school parking lot. It's empty, there's snow falling from the sky, but it almost seems like it's falling in slow motion, which somehow alerts me that I'm dreaming. I hold my hand out in front of me, watching the flakes land on it before melting. I'm startled by a sound in the distance. As I look around me I notice that there's now another car, on the other side of the parking lot. I recognize it, a silver Volvo. I feel my heart begin to pound, my eyes search for Edward. I scream "I know you're out there you coward!" and suddenly, I see a blur coming towards me. I close my eyes and wait for the impact and suddenly I hear an awful screeching sound and everything flashes bright white. I open my mouth to scream and suddenly feel the intense sensation of being crushed.
My eyes shot open and my arms flailed in front of me. I felt my self trying to scream, but realized that Jasper's hand was covering my mouth to muffle it. He quickly let go as soon as he could feel that I was aware of my surroundings.
"Sorry, I didn't think you'd want to wake your father. Here, write it down." He said, handing me my dream journal and a pen. I scribbled everything down in as much detail as I could before handing it back to him. I checked my alarm clock before laying back down, it was only 3:45 am. He quickly read it as I stared up at the ceiling. The dream was eerily similar to the last one I'd had, but this time I was aware that it was a dream - and I wasn't completely alone. When Jasper was done, he stuffed the journal back under my pillows so gently that I barely felt it. I turned towards him, burying my face in his chest and instantly felt his arms wrap around me.
"What does it mean?" I asked. He was quiet for a moment.
"I . . . wish I knew." We laid there for a while, he calmed me without putting me to sleep this time as he ran his fingers through my hair. I closed my eyes and tried to block out images from the dream without much success. Just as I was starting to doze off, Jasper's body stiffened and I suddenly felt alert.
"Shit, Bella, your dad's alarm clock is going off." He whispered, I looked at mine. It was only 4:30 am. He blurred over to the window and then back to me. "It's snowing, he might be getting up early to make sure he isn't late for work due to the weather conditions." We both froze as we heard Charlie's bedroom door open, relaxing when he went into the bathroom and started the shower. "I should go." He said, quickly putting on his jacket and stuffing the bloody shirt inside. "Thanks for the t-shirt." He opened the window before speeding back over to give me a quick kiss, carrying a cold breeze with him. I closed my eyes and shivered, when I opened them he was gone. I hadn't even heard the window close.
I had a hard time falling back asleep after he left. It felt like I laid there forever, all the anxiety that had eluded me the night before seemed to be settling in now - without Jasper here to comfort me. At some point I did doze off and when my alarm clock went off my eye lids were heavy, I could sense that I was going to have a hard time not being irritable all day. My dad had already left and I was thankful to find a little bit of lukewarm coffee sitting in the coffee pot once I finally stumbled my way down to the kitchen. My head was pounding. I chugged down the black coffee without bothering to heat it up or trying to make it taste better. The caffeine unfortunately didn't seem to do much to help me through my morning routine. I gathered my things, making sure to grab my phone before heading out to my truck.
The ice made the short distance between my front door and the vehicle seem like an obstacle course. I sighed and made my way there as slowly and carefully as possible, but just as I neared my truck I slipped, missing everything I tried to grab for support on the way down. I sat there for a moment and thought about giving in, surrendering for the day and just going back inside. It sounded nice, but I knew I'd missed enough school already. I groaned and somehow got into my truck without any other accidents. I started up the engine, made sure the heat was turned up, and pulled out my phone to text Jasper.
Morning. I'm on my way to school now.
Everyone was driving extra cautious due to the weather, though just on the short drive to school I'd seen three vehicles that had skidded off the road. Meanwhile, my trucked seemed to be chugging along without any issues, the tires gripped the road effortlessly. When I pulled into the parking lot it was still fairly empty. I'd felt my phone vibrate on the drive over, so once I'd parked I pulled it out to see what Jasper had said.
Good morning my love. Leaving now, running just a bit behind, cold must've killed my battery. The others are just a few minutes ahead of me. Wait in your truck and Emmett will keep an eye out for you until I get there, okay?
It said that the text had came through almost ten minutes prior, I hoped that he'd be there soon. I had a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach, but tried to ignore it. When I saw the Volvo pull into the parking lot I started to panic. I didn't like the idea of having eyes on Edward without Jasper being close by, even with Emmett watching him. Edward's eyes met mine from across the parking lot and for a moment it felt like my heart stopped, my mouth went dry. He gave me a small smile and a little wave and I felt every hair on the back of my neck stand up. Something in my head was screaming at me to run but I couldn't look away from him. I watched as his head shot to the side and he looked to Alice. I rolled my window down, trying to let in some fresh air to combat my anxiety. The wind picked up, blowing a loose sheet of paper from my unzipped book- bag. I watched as it landed on the ground next to my truck and began to soak up the wet slush. I sighed and opened my truck door, stepping out carefully to grab it. It fell apart in my hands as I tried to pick it up. Great. Something silver shimmered on my tire, catching my eye, I suddenly realized why Charlie had been up so early. A lump caught in my throat as I inspected the chains he'd put on my tires.
Suddenly I heard what sounded like a distant scream. I stood up, instinctively looking towards the Volvo and saw two things simultaneously , the first was an angry looking Edward exiting the car and taking off in a blur towards the forest, the second was Alice, walking very quickly towards me with a panicked look on her face. Something told me to walk towards her, so I did, I wasn't even completely sure that I'd closed the door to my truck.
"Bella, I know this is probably a really strange way for us to meet, but I need you to come with me, please, you have to move." She was smiling but the fear in her eye led me to believe that the scream I'd heard had came from her. She put her small hands on my shoulders and guided me gently, but urgently away from my truck. I didn't have a chance to voice any of my questions before an oddly familiar loud screeching sound pulled my attention back towards my truck. I turned and watched as a blue van smashed directly into the side of it, where I had been standing just thirty seconds ago. My knees buckled out from under me as I slipped into darkness.