AN: Hello guys! Long time no see!
*awkward silence*
Right, let's just skip review responses for today and hand you the chapter I deprived you of for FAR too long, lol
Chapter Three: In Alice we Trust
Jessica emerged from the water with a gasp of breath before pushing her bangs from her eyes and glancing up expectantly.
"New record!" Angela Webber said in a voice mixed with surprise and awe from where she stood near the pool's edge, stopwatch in hand and towel over arm.
Jessica grinned triumphantly before hoisting herself out of the pool and accepting the offered towel, rubbing at her face before sponging at her hair. "By how much, ye of little faith?"
"It's not as if I didn't believe in you," Angela insisted as the two girls strode over towards the pool chairs where their other friend, Lauren Mallory, was lounging with a magazine in hand. A boy jumped in and splashed her with a copious amount of water, causing her to yelp and glare at him as he swam away.
"It's just that twenty laps in fifteen minutes is already fast—I was expecting a thirty second difference or something but you were a whole five minutes faster!"
Jessica smiled and whipped her hair out of the towel before wrapping it around her body. "Let's call it The Power of Love."
Angela's eyes widened behind her glasses and she grinned. "Oh my gosh! You never did tell me what happened on your date with Edward yesterday. Was it that good?"
Jessica smiled and winked as she plopped onto the seat between Lauren and Angel and took the waiting ginger ale can. "A lady never kisses and tells."
Lauren's eyebrows rose into her hairline as she flicked up her sunglasses (super useless as per usual, it was gray today, but it did admittedly look good on her) in curiosity and Angela gasped excitedly.
Jessica snorted as she sipped from her drink. "Okay, no. We didn't kiss but we had a pleasant conversation, even if the date was a bit of a bust."
"A bust?" Angela asked with a sad frown. "What happened?"
"Mmmm okay," Jessica said, glancing conspiratorially between the two and lowering her voice. "I'm not supposed to tell you guys this, so you have to keep it a secret." Yes, she'd told Edward to keep her lips sealed but L and Angie were her best friends—best friends were always exceptions, everyone knew that!
Plus, what was she going to do? Lie to them? Pft. That was for winning over guys and getting rivals in trouble.
Angela winced awkwardly. "Oh—well maybe—"
"Spill," Lauren said urgently, ripping off her glasses and twisting her body in full attention.
Clearing her throat dramatically and sending a silent apology to the laws of karma, Jessica whispered. "He's allergic to the sun."
Lauren jerked back in bewilderment and Angela's frown deepened as she cocked her head to the side.
"I know it sounds weird but it's a real thing, trust me. I read it in a book once. Anyway, we cut the date short because the sun was coming out and we agreed to redo next week Friday. I have the best plan and—"
Lauren burst into laughter before rolling onto her back once more and replacing her sunglasses.
Jessica scowled at her. "What's so funny?"
Lauren snorted in amusement as she held up her magazine again. "Jess, he's playing you."
"Oh come on! Edward isn't that kind of guy!" Jessica defended.
"How would you know? He's ignored your conversations up until like, a few days ago."
"Exactly! If he were a player he'd be trying to seduce me, not push me away—!"
"Jessica," Lauren gave her a pointed look from behind her sunglasses. "He cried vampire to get out of a date with you. Come on, he's not serious about this. I don't know what he wants but it's not a happy loving relationship."
"He isn't playing me," Jessica snapped. "The date wasn't even his idea, it was his sister's!" Plus, Jessica had seen the panic on his face when the sun had touched him, when the beams of light tried to reach him. He was clearly scared of it. "Plus, he didn't cry vampire or whatever, xerdo-something is real thing!"
"Even better," Lauren said casually as she flipped the page. "The Cullens got tired of you drooling over their brother and orchestrated a plan to make you look like a dumbass."
Jessica opened and closed her mouth in a betrayed shock before spinning sharply towards Angela who flinched at her intense gaze. "Angie, back me up!"
Angela hesitated, twirling a strand of hair around her finger nervously before saying, "I'm…actually with Lauren."
"Thank you," Lauren said as Jessica took another betrayed blow to the gut.
"Well, it's just—there's no way he could have xeroderma pigmentosum!" Angel blurted out quickly. "He wears short sleeves, goes outside all the time without a care in the world, and I've never seen him with sunglasses or blistered skin. The sun doesn't stop affecting people with that disease just because it's hidden in the clouds. And if that's not enough evidence, the Cullens go camping all the time!"
Jessica stared at her mutely as the information swam through her head. She knew for a fact Angela wouldn't lie to her, and she undoubtedly knew more about weird diseases than Jessica could ever dream of. So that would mean—
"He lied to you, Jess," Angela said with a sympathetic frown.
Jessica clenched her jaw before snatching up her drink and swimming bag. "I have to go," she said tightly.
"I can't see the future of someone I haven't met before," Alice had said dejectedly when Edward had told her and the family about the mysterious vampire a day prior. "So whoever they are, I don't know their intentions. However…" She tilted her head to the side and everyone watched as her amber eyes turned glossy and her eyelids flickered rapidly. Edward tried to see what she was seeing but the images were flying by far too fast.
"Okay. Good," Her gaze returned to normal and she smiled at her family. "I checked all of our futures; no strange vampires are coming to bother us."
"But that could change at any moment," Carlisle pointed out grimly. He sat atop the kitchen island bar stool with a pensive frown lightly wrinkling his face.
"It could," Alice agreed. "But I should be immediately alerted if something dangerous is about to happen. Don't worry everyone."
It was the most they could do, along with everyone vowing to keep their eyes peeled when they went hunting. And in all honesty, Edward wasn't satisfied.
He had tried and failed to read one of his old and worn books, then play the piano, until finally settling on half-heartedly watching Jasper and Emmett play video games in the living room. None of it was working to distract his tumbling thoughts.
He had an incredibly bad feeling about all of it, and though Jasper had tried, his calming aura couldn't quite keep the icy claws of fear away.
He prayed vehemently for the weekend to end—at least homework, classes, and the ever-noisy mind of Jessica Stanley would take his mind off things.
Emmett had just lost whatever fighting game was playing before Edward's eyes when Alice skipped into view and dropped a dusty flip phone onto his lap.
He frowned in confusion before looking up at his beaming sister. "What's this?" But as soon as the question left his lips he knew it had something to do with Jessica Stanley—Alice was singing Beyonce in her head again to stop him from probing.
"You got mail!" She said in a sing-song voice before gliding out, calling over her shoulder, "He's trying to secretly build up a combo, Jasper!"
"Argh! Damn you, Alice!" Emmett snapped as Jasper chuckled and craned his head over Emmett to give his lover a wink.
"Thank you for your service, ma'am. Already got a back up plan."
As Emmett began vigorously smashing buttons on the Playstation controllers and a conspartial smirk broadened on Jasper's face, Edward blinked slowly at the message staring at him from the tiny screen.
From 555-231-345: wtf u liar
Staring in bewilderment for a few more moments Edward shook his head and slowly typed back a reply.
Me: Jessica? How did you get this number?
Truly, how? Alice had got the phone for him for his birthday last year but he never used it once. He already knew who the texter was judging by Alice's cheerfulness but how on Earth had she gotten ahold of him?
The reply came back within moments.
From 555-231-345: i have eyes + ears everywhere BICTH
From 555-231-345: *BITCH
Edward sighed and leaned back against the sofa, squinting at Alice from where she sat on the kitchen island absolutely-not-reading. She looked up from the book and shrugged innocently. "You didn't expect me to set you up on a date without giving her contact info just in case, right?"
...he supposed he understood that logic.
The phone pinged again, confirming Alice's statement.
From 555-231-345: ok it was ure sister
From 555-231-345: but i do hve eyes + ears everywhere btw
Ah well, he had nothing else to do. Might as well indulge her. Edward typed back a response.
Me: What do you want?
From 555-231-345: y did u lie to me?
Lie? About—
Edward's eyes widened. Disappearing before her eyes? Glittering eerily? Take your pick this was not a good situation. He swallowed and glanced back at Alice again, she was peeking from her book and shooing him back to the conversation at hand.
He supposed that meant nothing terrible was about to happen.
From 555-231-345: abt the sun thing?
Ah.
Me: I was not lying
From 555-231-345: grr
From 555-231-345: stfu yes u were
From 555-231-345: angela told me
From 555-231-345: i wod scream in ure ear rn but my dad is home : (((((
Angela? Edwards narrowed his eyes slightly before replying with: Me: I thought you weren't going to tell anyone?
Jessica did not respond for a whole minute before responding with a slew of nonsense.
From 555-231-345: rtop
From 555-231-345: this is no me
From 555-231-345: about
From 555-231-345: me
From 555-231-345: you lied
From 555-231-345: *stop
Me: And YOU broke your promise. Are we even now?
From 555-231-345: NO
From 555-231-345: omg u cve just said u didnt want to go on a nxt date w/me
From 555-231-345: didnt hve to pretend to be a vamp or whatevr
Edward tensed sharply and glanced anxiously at Alice, except she was frustratingly and inexplicably gone.
"What's got you all tense like that?" Jasper asked with a frown over his shoulder as Emmett shamelessly took advantage of his brother's distraction.
"Probably watching porn," Emmett snickered before whooping as he won his first round thus far.
Edward let out a scandalized hiss and flung a pillow at his head. It bounced off with a laugh from Emmett while Jasper stared dejectedly at the screen and scowled at his gaming partner. "You fight with no honor," he growled.
"And I am not watching…that," Edward bit out.
"Sure, sure," Emmett snorted as he and Jasper restarted their game.
Throwing one last scowl at the back of Emmett's head, Edward returned to his cell phone before hesitantly replying. Alice hadn't rushed back to tell him to stop, and all he needed to do was blissfully ignore the too-close-for-comfort comparison. It was fine. It was fine.
Me: I apologize. I do assure you that it wasn't personal.
From 555-231-345: then wut was it?
Oh dear. What was it indeed?
Edward blew a nervous breath and tapped his thumb against the phone's side as he decided on what to say. After a moment of contemplation, he responded.
Me: I do have a condition, I didn't lie about that. I only lied about what it was. I'm sorry but I can't tell you.
There, outright lying wasn't quite working, so omitting would surely be a bit better.
Hopefully.
God, this was why they didn't interact with humans. Why, Alice? Why?
There was a pregnant pause before Jessica responded again.
From 555-231-345: do u hve cancer?
Edward snorted. Me: No.
From 555-231-345: but its not xerdo?
Me: No.
From 555-231-345: r u actlly a vamp?
Me: no
From 555-231-345: wut happened to ure good grmmr? u were on a roll lol
Edward sighed in relief at the change in subject before responding once more.
Me: You try being consistent on this blasted thing.
From 555-231-345: LOL that's tru
After a few moments in which Edward glanced up to watch Emmett getting defeated once more, his phone pinged again.
From 555-231-345: im srry btw
From 555-231-345: abut telling my friends
From 555-231-345: even tho it was a lie anyway
From 555-231-345: u dont hve to tell me abut ur real sun thing
Edward smiled. Me: Thank you.
From 555-231-345: but youll tell me one day rite?
Me: Perhaps.
From 555-231-345: no pressr
From 555-231-345: r we stll on next friday btw?
Me: Yes.
From 555-231-345: cool! see u at scool?
Me: Of course.
Sensing the conversation was over, Edward closed the phone with a pensive expression on his face. Jessica was…something. But perhaps it wasn't...too awful of a thing.
Humming he held out his phone to the side and dropped it onto an expectantly grinning Alice's lap. "Warn me next time."
Alice rolled her eyes and patted Edward's cheek. "Where's the fun in that?"
Jessica flipped her phone closed and smiled at the ceiling, sighing dreamily to herself. Angie and L were wrong—of course they'd been! She'd seen the horror on Edward's face, unless he was a super good actor that meant he had to have some issue with the sun.
On top of that he kept having these seemingly painful headaches, clearly he had some sort of condition. And duh why would he tell some rando he didn't know that well?
But that would change, and then—
Her head jerked to the side when she heard something bang hard against her window. Frowning, she stood and walked over to it, not finding anybody there or the corpse of some poor bird who'd mistaken the glass for open air.
Instead she found a strip of paper taped to the sill. Curious, she opened the window and pried it off, glancing left and right once more to see the perpetrator.
Nobody. She then glanced down at the note.
I'll be watching you. XOXO
— Your Secret Admirer
Jessica rolled her eyes and tore the paper in half. "Freaking Mike," she grumbled before tossing the shredded pieces outside. She'd know that shitty handwriting and cheesy choice of a "romantic" message anywhere.
She was unaware of the eldritch creature perched nearby, delightfully inhaling her scent carried by the wind and savouring it before she shut the window once more. Licking his lips, he leaped from the nearby house and disappeared into the misty afternoon.
Nothing terrible had happened over the weekend, and for that, Edward was grateful. While the worry was still present, it had ebbed away slightly as Jasper had constantly reminded him and the others, "Trust Alice."
And so he would.
Edward steeled his mind as he walked into class, and Jessica's loud thoughts screeched into his head. She was away from her desk and leaning over one of another classmate—Mike Newton, he believed was his name?
As he sat down and waited on the homeroom teacher, he stared at the window, thoughts of the vampire—
'No.' Edward told himself as he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. 'Trust Alice. Trust Alice.'
Blessedly distracting him, Jessica plopped into her seat. He turned to her with a small smile, prepared to strike up a conversation when he noticed her pensive expression—one not focused on him, for once.
Now, he could've chalked this up to her keeping her promise to stop objectifying him in her head ad nauseum, but that theory was all but shattered as his curious mind snatched the buzzing words flitting around her head.
"A stalker?" He demanded automatically, voice tense and muscles clenched.
Jessica blinked twice and turned to him. "Hmm? Oh yeah, on Saturday I got this weird note on my window and I thought it was Mike because he's a shitty writer but he says he didn't do it and he's also a shitty liar." She tilted her head to the side. "How'd you know?"
"I overheard you talking…sorry," he said, all while poking through her head. His suspicions were slowly raised as he went through the memory of her feeling as if she were being watched last Friday.
Oh no. If this was what he thought it was—
"Oh. Well yeah, that's a thing, and then last Friday I had this weird feeling I was being…" she paused, bemused smile becoming pensive again as the memories of Edward appearing out of nowhere came into—
"What do you have planned?" He asked quickly, attempting to change the subject.
Thankfully, it worked and the fuzzy memory was replaced with question marks. "What do you mean?" She asked, coming back to herself with a shake of her head.
"The date?"
"Oh!" She said excitedly, and began prattling on about a Fall Fest but "don't worry, it's 100% indoors" and she knew he was absolutely going to love it.
Painting leaves, listening to too loud music and watching horror movies wasn't Edward's cup of tea, but he was grateful she was keeping his limitations in mind.
"Unless…you have something else in mind?" Jessica asked hesitantly.
Edward offered her a tiny smile. "No, that sounds wonderful."
Jessica positively beamed. "Okay, cool! Oh! Another thing!" She opened her purse and placed a familiar notebook down. "Are you up for more questions?"
Edward hesitated before nodding and turning in his seat to face her. "Alright then. Let's hear them." He would mull over his theory later, what he needed now was yet another distraction from his tumbling thoughts.
There was a brief screech in thought frequency as Jessica silently squealed about their knees brushing before she asked her next question.
"Question number two; why do you hate PE?"
"It has to do with my…" he leaned forward, and he heard Jessica's heartbeat increase rapidly as he lowered his voice and said, "condition. Remember?"
"Oh," she said in a conspiratorial whisper before jotting something down. "Okie doke, the outdoors, you like them, why?"
Edward shrugged. "Who doesn't like the outdoors?"
Jessica snorted and jabbed a thumb at her chest. "This girl. I'm sorry, but it's gross."
"Gross?"
"The mud, the bugs…" Jessica shuddered. "Many a designer piece was lost in those horrifying depths."
Edward's lips twitched at that dramatics before stating, "And there's your problem. Designer pieces and the woods don't exactly make a happy marriage."
"Which is confusing," Jessica huffed, eyes briefly flickering to his lips. "Because opposites attract and…all that."
Edward's semi-smile disappeared and he cleared his throat. "Next question?"
There was a brief pause in which Jessica's mind screamed with self-inflicted curses at her failed attempt at flirting as she awkwardly jotted something down again.
The interrogation ended, however, as their teacher strode in. Meanwhile, Jessica patted Edward's shoulder as she turned to the front once more. "We're getting somewhere!" she said cheerfully. "We'll have to pick this up tomorrow though—I have to set the record straight with Lauren before she starts spreading bad rumours about you."
Edward gave her one last smile before glancing out the window again. The fact that Jessica's theoretical vampire stalker was, key-word, stalking presumably for four days thus far was telling. It meant they weren't newborn, and it meant they didn't see Jessica as a necessary meal. They were having fun.
Edward could tell his family but didn't feel partial to—a vampire like the one he was imagining would make it look like a suicide or animal attack easy enough. There would be no suspicion to drive them out. Nor did they seem to be attempting to steal from Cullen territory. To top it all off, Jessica was more or less an insignificant stranger to them all. Sans Alice he couldn't see any of them wanting to get overly involved in the situation.
So no, there was no real point telling them…but.
He glanced briefly at Jessica and she caught his eye, smiling and adding an over dramatic eye flutter before turning back to the teacher with a jolt as he called on her.
At best, Jessica was nothing more than a fellow peer with a huge crush on him, but he didn't want her to die. So, simply, he wasn't going to let that happen.
He felt it was the right choice deciding to watch over Jessica, especially when he went to lunch and found Alice cheerfully smiling (and singing in her head again).
So, after school had gone by as usual, he caught her as she exited the school doors.
"Jessica," he said, causing her to pause her conversation with her group of friends.
"Edward!" She cheerfully said as she spun around and grinned. "Hi! What's up?"
"Would you be opposed to me driving you home today?" She came to school with the Angela girl, he realized, so there'd be no need to drive a car back.
Jessica blinked rapidly in surprise, while her two friends shared a glance, the girl in glasses grinning slightly and the blonde raising her eyebrows skeptically.
"Oh! Yes! Yes absolutely!" She grinned excitedly as she giddily followed him after sharing a silent squee with her two other friends.
"So…what brought this on?" she asked curiously.
"Your stalker. I'm…concerned about them—I mean to say—"
"You worried about them because of what they might do to me," Jessica said with a smile. "You know you prove over and over again that you really are a sweet fairy tale prince."
Edward chuckled bitterly as he opened the car door for her. "I'm no fairy tale character, Jessica."
"I guess," Jessica mused as Edward slipped into the driver's seat and turned on the ignition. From the rear view mirror he could see Emmett making kissing faces.
He rolled his eyes mentally as he smiled lightly at his brother's antics as Jessica said, "You're more of a rom com protagonist."
"Not that either," Edward said as they pulled out. "Try a horror villain."
Jessica's eyes widened and she blinked several times before snorting. "Dramatic much? Do you sell drugs or something?"
Edward turned from the window to give her an aghast look. "No!"
"Committed arson?" She continued as she took out a water bottle from her bag and flicked the cap open.
"No." Unless burning vampires counted.
"Killed someone?"
Edward gripped the steering wheel and swallowed. "Yes," he said softly under his breath.
"Hmm?"
"No, of course not."
"So horror villain where?" Jessica demanded. "Unless this is like…unless this has to do with your cancer?"
Edward's lips twitched upwards. "I told you, it isn't cancer."
"Well your condition or whatever. Is there some self-ableism going on with you?"
He turned from the road again and met Jessica's raised eyebrows and questioning gaze. Her mile a minute thoughts and briefly to her juggler vein. Even masked in perfume and skin lotion, his never ending bloodlust still replayed the rush of her blood in the back of his mind.
"You can say that," he said finally.
"Okay, well, you're not," Jessica said simply before taking a sip of her water. As if her saying so would make it all the better.
"If only you understood," he uttered bitterly. "I—"
"You," Jessica cut off, placing a hand on his. "Are—cold!" She jerked her hand back and flashed it. "Jesus, it's not that cold outside, is it?"
Edward winced. "Sorry I…I'm sensitive to the cold. It's apart of—"
"Your horror villain condition?"
"Right."
"Sun and cold sensitivity?" Jessica muttered under her breath as she took another drink. "What a bipolar condi—oh, shit."
Edward turned to her with a frown, about to ask if she was okay when an image of a man popped into her head followed by curses and "what did I do now!"
Leaning against the front door of Jessica's house was the man in question—small squinted eyes, partially missing head of hair and red beet face. As soon as the car pulled in, he strode towards them.
"Shit, shit, shit…" Jessica muttered repeatedly both out loud and in her head as she quickly opened the car. Her anxiety was prominent if the rapid state of her heart beat and her scrambled thoughts said anything. She paused to give him a forced smile. "See you at school?"
He couldn't even respond before she'd shut the door and walked up to meet the man Edward presumed to be her father.
A brief glance at the man's thoughts revealed an angry spiel about the television being switched to the wrong output. As he grumbled about out loud to Jessica, she muttered out a subdued apology and followed him into the house, but not before he paused to ask who exactly he was.
"Someone from school," she said vaguely. "That's it."
The man let out a harrumph before squinting at Edward and entering the house. Jessica gave him a half hearted wave that he returned before closing the door behind her.
He wasn't exactly sure why he waited for a while, perhaps waiting to smell blood, hear the sound of bodily impact or pleading but he heard none of that within his five minute wait.
Sighing, Edward pulled out and drove off. He wondered, vaguely, if this vampire stalker was the only thing Jessica had to worry about.
AN: So that overarching plot has officially kicked off, hope you enjoyed!
Fantasy Fan OUT!