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Chapter 6: Giving Back

December 6, Monday

Forks, Washington

Jasper

"Hun, are you ready?"

I look up from my phone, glancing toward our bedroom as I wait for a response from my fiancée. I hear the closet doors close as she answers.

"Two minutes!"

I turn back to my phone, sipping my coffee. I'm mindlessly scrolling through TikTok, hoping Noodle has an update for us. Not that Alice ever takes the advice too seriously; she's always running on Bones Days.

Still, I like to let fate guide me, as it were.

My feed is flooded with Christmas videos, trends, and pranks, all dedicated to the season. Some of them are pretty dumb, but some make me laugh.

"Any word?"

I look up from my phone at Alice, who is coming into the kitchen, buttoning her sweater.

"Noodle must not be awake yet," I say, holding up my phone. She rolls her eyes, reaching to pour herself a cup of coffee.

"Not Noodle, your brother. Is he coming out sooner?"

I set my phone down, taking another sip of my coffee. "I don't know if he's made up his mind yet, but I hope so." I pause, tapping the edge of my mug with my fingernail. "I don't know if Rose is going to make it out."

Alice frowns, leaning against the sink. "Things are still bad?"

I shrug. Emmett hasn't told me much, but it doesn't take a mind reader to know that things have been off between them. As if my brother's professional struggles hadn't been enough this year.

"If she can't make it, maybe we can head out there for Spring Break," Alice suggests. "Bring a little family to New York."

I lean over, pressing a kiss to her lips. "I love that idea. I'll run it by Em the next time I talk to him."

Alice leans into me, taking a deep breath. "It's too bad," she says after a minute. "Rose is so busy. She could use some Christmas magic."

I nod in agreement. "Yeah, she probably could."

I can see Alice's mind working, and I know without having to ask, she's got a plan brewing in her mind. I smile, pressing a kiss to her forehead before finishing off my coffee. "Ready to go?"

Alice nods, finishing off her small cup and placing our mugs in the dishwasher. I move to pull on my coat and shoes while Alice checks her bags.

Alice and I are both teachers, though I teach high school while she teaches the kindergarten class. A couple of days a week, our schedules align, and we're able to drive together. Thankfully, Forks is a small town, and the elementary school that runs K-8th is right across the street from the high school.

Alice and I pile into my car, and I start it up while she pulls out her planner. I glance over to see her making notes to herself, and I grin.

I can't wait to marry her.

I drive through Forks, humming along to the Christmas song gently playing through the car's sound system. Alice has been all Christmas since Halloween ended. Thankfully, she reserved most of the music to her headphones until December hit. She's the only person I know who can listen to Christmas music for two full months and not get sick of it.

"What is going on in your day today?" Alice asks, finishing up her notes in her planner. Our commute isn't that long, and in fact, in the warmer months on the few rare clear days, sometimes we even walk to work. I'm already parked in front of the elementary school when she turns to me.

"Quiz," I tell her. "It was supposed to be last Friday, but enough kids were absent, and I postponed it."

Alice nods. "Are they ready?"

I sigh. It's hard trying to get high school kids interested in history. I teach all four grades; being the only history teacher at the school and across the board, my kids are ready to stop learning and go on a nice long winter break.

"I don't know," I hedge. "I might push it back another day; give them more time to review." I don't want my kids to fail. As far as I'm concerned, if I have more than half of my students tanking quizzes, I've not done my job well enough.

Alice reaches out to me, her fingers squeezing mine. "You're a good teacher," she murmurs. I smile. We're both really well suited to the kids we teach. Alice is the best kindergarten teacher this town has ever had, and we've only just begun our careers. I cannot wait to grow old with her, foster future generations of this town we both love, to inspire them to be more.

"I love you." I lean over, kissing her sweetly. She smells like peppermint and sugar cookies, and it's my absolute favorite smell in all of the world.

…

"Mr. Cullen?"

I look up from where I'm cleaning off the whiteboard after a much-needed review session with my freshmen class. I decided to hold off the quiz one more day, and I think it'll be well worth it.

"Tyler, how can I help you?"

He edges into my classroom, glancing behind him to make sure no one is around. It must be serious, and I turn from my whiteboard to give him my full attention.

"I was wondering," he says slowly. "If there was still time to sign up for that toy drive?"

I blink in surprise. Alice and I decided to host a toy drive between both schools. We'd been met with pretty lukewarm responses so far, though I'd been hoping to get some of my students involved in going out to the community to collect for it.

"Yeah, of course," I say, leaning against my desk. "I'm thrilled you're interested."

Tyler shifts on his feet, looking bashful. "I figured it might be good," he says slowly. "To give back and all that."

I fight my smile. Tyler is a freshman, but he's already pretty popular around school, being one of the few to make it onto the football team's first string. We didn't have nearly enough students for varsity or junior varsity. Instead, we had one team, and often sophomores and freshmen played second string.

Tyler has stood out since his tryouts.

"It's a great feeling to be able to give back. Especially around the holidays," I agree.

Tyler nods slowly. "I just," he pauses, looking down at his sneakers. "I didn't want the guys to give me a hard time about it."

I move from my desk. "Tyler," I say gently. "I know there's a lot of pressure in high school to go with the crowd," I pause, trying to think about how to word this. "But you're quickly becoming a leader amongst your peers. That's a lot of responsibility, but it's also a great opportunity." I wait until he looks up at me, meeting my gaze. "You have the chance to lead your peers into giving back, to make them more aware of the gifts we've all been given, and to help people who haven't been as fortunate."

I can see his back straighten as he takes it in, see the determination in his eyes.

"I want to be that kind of leader," he agrees.

I smile. "I have no doubt you'll rise to it."

Tyler offers me a small smile, then ducks his head as he turns to leave the classroom. "I'll stop by after practice?" he asks, glancing back at me. I nod.

"I'll see you then."

Okay! We've met all our characters individually, now, they will begin to weave together! I'm so excited to get into it!

I've loved your holiday drink suggestions! Tomorrow, bring a photo of your favorite holiday sweater. Don't have one? Any garment will work! Let's see the festive!