A/N: Warning! If you are an Alice/Jasper fan, you may not want to continue. The story will eventually be a Seri/Jasper story, I just haven't decided exactly when yet. There is also some Alice bashing in this chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything recognizable.

I couldn't decide if the next day was better or worse. Bella woke up and was kind of sulky all morning. To be honest, it was kind of annoying. She'd just met the guy. It wasn't like they'd swapped spit and been dating for a year. I mean, damn.

Once I got to school, I skipped into art class. Emmett was already there, and he grinned widely and waved to me once I got inside. He automatically began chatting animatedly once I got within five feet of him, and we spent the class period jesting and teasing each other once again. As we left the room, I made Emmett walk in front of me, and as soon as we made it out the door, I ran and jumped up onto his back, yelling, "I am Godzilla! I will crush the tiny human peasants!"

That set off another ground-shaking bout of laughter from Emmett that I reveled in before he set me down and we separated. The rest of the morning went similarly. I made idle chat with Eric in Chemistry and helped out Angela during Trig. Bella and I sat with the same group as yesterday for lunch, and I could tell Bella was tired. I spent most of the lunch period trying to cheer her up and make her laugh.

American Wars was a lot of fun. Mr. Roberts announced we were going to begin studying the Civil War. I automatically turned and grinned at Jasper. Today, we were supposed to be reading the first section of the chapter with our table partners.

As we opened our books, I had to laugh because Jasper had the biggest look of disgust I had ever seen on his face.

"What?" Jasper asked, disgust evident in his voice as he scanned the page. His fingers barely touched the page as he flipped them over to see how long the section was, as though if he touched it long enough the incorrect facts would worm their way into his brain and corrupt the truth.

My laugh turned belly-aching as I tried to answer, "Y-You! Your face!"

"My face?" Jasper asked, bringing one of his hands up to caress his own cheek. I would have laughed harder if I could.

"You look so-so disgusted," I said, trying to calm down; however, I couldn't help the small giggles that continued to escape me.

"It's not my fault they get so many facts wrong," Jasper said, disgust back on his face.

I snorted. "Well, not all of us can become one with someone from the Civil War ages like you seem to have done."

Jasper's face turned suddenly serious and his back stiffened as he asked, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Funny. I would have thought the way I worded that wouldn't have caused any suspicion, but he was acting like I had just stood up on the table and screamed, "I know you're a vampire!" in his face.

Instead, I just told him calmly, as though I was stating a fact, "Well, it's like you told me yesterday. You have a bunch of old journals from the families of soldiers and from different soldiers, and if you really have read them all and understand them, then you have all the knowledge of a person from that era, making it kind of like you were there."

He stared at me for a few moments before he relaxed and said, "You know, that actually makes sense."

I flipped my hair over my shoulder and said proudly, "I have my moments." Jasper just grinned at me and I rolled my eyes. I nodded back to the open books on the table with a smile and said, "Come on, Soldier Boy. Let's get to work before we get yelled at."

"Soldier Boy, huh?" Jasper asked, laughing. I just smiled at him in response and we got to reading. I was just glad he was back to being comfortable.

During gym, we were actually supposed to be playing, and I managed to skillfully dodge most of Bella's sad misfires while we played volleyball. One girl didn't get so lucky, and got nailed in the back of the head so hard she fell on the ground. I laughed so hard that Coach Clapp made me sit out. Bella's face was beet red for the rest of the period.

After we got home, I grabbed the jar labeled FOOD MONEY that Charlie kept on his kitchen counter. Bella had discovered that Charlie had no idea how to cook anything but breakfast foods and barely had any food in the house, and so, she decided she would take over kitchen duty. I'd usually cooked for us during the summers, but I wasn't nearly as good and didn't enjoy it nearly as much as Bella did, so I was happy to hand it over.

After grabbing the jar, I hopped in Bella's truck with her and she pulled out of the driveway, heading to the store. The Thriftaway wasn't far from the house, and I could tell Bella was happy at the familiarity of being in a store. She was the one that actually did the shopping in our house. I usually went with to keep her company and try to talk her into buying things we didn't really need. This time it was a bag of Kit-Kats and a bag of Dum-Dum suckers. I tried to get her to buy a dozen double-chocolate cupcakes, but she refused and said she'd rather make them. I didn't argue. As long as I got some chocolate cupcakes, I didn't care where they came from.

When we got home, I helped Bella unload the groceries, stuffing them in every little crevice I could find. After we finished putting away groceries, I helped Bella start dinner by wrapping potatoes in foil while she put them in the oven and covered some steak in marinade. After we did that, we separated to do homework. Bella went upstairs to work in the peace and quiet while I stayed downstairs and turned the TV on so I could listen to the scores to a random football game while I worked.

Bella came downstairs after about an hour and a half. I was sitting on the couch with my feet propped up on the coffee table watching one of the hundred crime scene shows that was on after having finished my homework over forty-five minutes ago. She plopped down on the couch next to me, curling her feet up next to her, with her favorite copy of Wuthering Heights on her lap.

"Mom is freaking out because you haven't emailed her back yet. If it's as bad as mine, she should have sent you at least three," Bella informed me as she opened up her book.

I rolled my eyes and said, "She should know by now that I never look at my email. If she wants to talk to me that bad, she can call me."

Bella just sighed and started reading her book. I went back to my show. About forty-five minutes later, I heard the door open and Dad called, "Seri? Bella?"

"Nope! It's a burglar that's trying to learn how to be a better intruder by watching crime shows on your TV," I yelled back, and Bella giggled next to me.

"Hey, Dad, welcome home," Bella called. Suddenly, her face went blank as she quickly jumped up and ran into the kitchen, crying,"The food!"

I jumped up behind her to see if I could help. Mostly, I was curious to see if the food was burned or not. Bella let out a breath of relief when I walked into the kitchen. She was pulling out the potatoes. Guess they didn't burn.

"Need any help?" I asked politely; however, Bella just shook her head and said, "No. I'm good."

I shrugged and leaned against the kitchen table, wanting to be in the room that everyone else was in even if I didn't have a reason to be. Dad hung up his gun belt and stepped out of his boots next to the door while Bella ran around the kitchen.

"What's for dinner?" Charlie asked, his voice wary. He must have been thinking about Renee's 'experimental' cooking. It never turned out well. One time she tried to make spaghetti and she put salsa instead of tomato sauce in it and then burned it all.

But just to have a little fun, I put on the saddest expression I could, somehow managing to bring tears to my eyes, and looked up at him as I said in a small voice, "You didn't like my cooking?"

Dad, thinking I was one hundred percent that I thought he was thinking about my cooking when he said that, turned to me with a face almost full of panic. His hands started twitching at his sides, like he was trying to figure out how to comfort me, and he flushed, stuttering, "No! No, Seri! You're cooking was…it was great! I don't know why you'd think…"

"It's okay, Dad," I said brightly in the middle of his stuttering. "Bella cooks way better than I do anyway."

"I…uh…" Charlie stuttered, figuring out I was playing with him. His cheeks turned a couple shades darker as he mumbled, "Mmm."

"We're having steak and potatoes," Bella answered, probably trying to distract Charlie. Charlie nodded to her, a relieved expression on his face, and then kind of stood in the kitchen awkwardly.

I rolled my eyes at the tension, and, wanting to help Dad out, said, "If you don't need my help, I'm going to go watch TV in the living room."

Then I walked out of the room. Dad joined me a few seconds later.

A little while later, Bella called to tell us that dinner was ready. Dad and I walked into the kitchen and sat down at the small table as Bella set the potatoes, steak, and a bowl of salad on the center of the table. She took a seat next to me after she was done, and the beginning of dinner was conducted pretty much in silence, aside from when Bella and I teamed up to pester Dad about eating a little more salad with his steak until he finally caved.

"So," Charlie began as he took seconds, "how are you guys liking school? Have you made any friends?"

I hastily stuffed my mouth with a big bite of potatoes to avoid the question, motioning for Bella to go ahead with her answer. It wasn't that I didn't want Charlie to know about my friendship with Emmett and Jasper, it was that I didn't like the look I would be given. There were two that I had gotten since I had begun school: the look of jealousy, mixed with a little bit of hatred, and the one of complete wonder and curiosity. The latter, oddly enough, being the one I hated the most. It was like they were wondering what was so special about me that the Cullens felt the need to be friends with me. Just a random new girl. It was also the look that Charlie was bound to give me, since he wasn't the jealous, filled with hatred type.

"Well, I have a few classes with a girl named Jessica. Seri and I sit with her at lunch. And there's this boy, Mike, who's very friendly. Everybody seems pretty nice," Bella said, staring at her plate as she swirled salad around with her fork.

"Must be Mike Newton. Nice kid—nice family. His dad owns the sporting goods store just outside of town. He makes a good living off all the backpackers who come through here." I muffled a snort. Charlie sounded like he was trying to sell Bella into dating Mike Newton.

"Do you know the Cullen family?" Bella asked hesitantly after a few moments of silence.

"Dr. Cullen's family?" No, the other Cullen family. You know, the ones who live in a van down by the river? "Sure. Dr. Cullen's a great man."

"They…the kids…are a little different. They don't seem to fit in very well at school."

Charlie, before Bella could say anything more, looked angry, and began what looked like a rant by saying, "People in this town…Dr. Cullen is a brilliant surgeon who could probably work in any hospital in the world, make ten times the salary he gets here." He took a deep breath before continuing, getting louder, "We're lucky to have him—lucky that his wife wanted to live in a small town. He's an asset to the community, and all those kids are well behaved and polite. I had my doubts, when they first moved in, with all those adopted teenagers. I thought we might have some problems with them. But they're all very mature—I haven't had one speck of trouble from any of them. That's more than I could say for the children of some folks who have lived in this town for generations. And they stick together the way a family should—camping trips every other weekend….Just because they're newcomers, people have to talk."

Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see Bella was wide-eyed while she stared at Charlie, surprise written all over her face. It was obvious she'd never seen Charlie go off on a tangent like this. I, on the other hand, had seen this rant a few different times and a few different ways when Charlie would visit with Billy, Harry, and sometimes Old Quil Ateara. It seemed that they felt compelled to bring up how Charlie should be careful about being around the Cullens every once in a while, setting Charlie off. They'd toned it down over the years, but it still happened, as if they wanted to remind him of their opinions.

"They seem very nice to me," Bella tried to calm Charlie down. "I just notice they keep to themselves. Except for with Seri." She mumbled that sentence, and Charlie didn't seem to notice. Still, my back stiffened. "They're all very attractive."

Charlie laughed. "You should see the doctor. It's a good thing he's happily married. A lot of the nurses at the hospital have a hard time concentrating on their work with him around." He went to dig his fork into a potato, but froze a second later. He looked back up at Bella with a confused expression and said, "What did you say about Seri?"

I was back to sitting in my chair like a corn cob was stuck up my butt. Bella, thinking it wasn't a big deal, just shrugged and responded, "Just that she seems to be friends with them."

Charlie looked back at me, and I gave him an innocent smile as he asked, "Really? And why didn't you say something before?"

I just shrugged, doing my best as I responded as nonchalantly as possible, "I sit next to a couple of them during class. We talk. It's really not that big of a deal."

Bella looked at me like I was weird, probably because she expected me to say more. Charlie nodded, seemingly accepting my simple answer, and went back to eating. We lapsed back into silence after that, and finished eating. Charlie and I cleared the table, and then I helped Bella hand wash the dishes since there was no dishwasher while Dad went to watch TV in the living room. Bella looked at me suspiciously as we did them, and finally I had to say, "Bella, will you please stop looking at me like I just lied to the president of the United States? I really don't think it's that big of a deal, okay?"

"Sorry," she mumbled, going back to washing dishes. "It's just, when you talk about them, it's like you guys are already best friends."

I snorted, wiping down one of the dishes with a towel. "I've only known them for two days and I only have one period with them. Maybe eventually, we'll be closer, but for now, we're just starting out, just like any other relationship."

"I know," Bella sighed. "I just…I don't know…"

"Feel left out because you are so curious about them and I actually talk to them?" I finished for her. She nodded, her face glum. "They haven't told me anything we don't already know. Really, you're not missing out on anything. I promise."

Bella nodded, looking a little brighter now that I had told her they hadn't said anything to me. I did know more than she did, but it wasn't considered lying because they hadn't told me anything. Loop holes, baby.

After that, Bella and I went upstairs so I could help her with her math homework. She was good at English, since she was actually into all the old books they wanted us to read, while I was good at math. Bella happened to be absolutely horrible at math, so she got a free tutor in me. Once the horror and frustration of trying of teach Bella how to divide polynomials was over, it was late, so we took turns showering and headed to bed.

The rest of the week was intensely boring. I hated routine, and I was ready for the exciting part of the story to begin instead of the lameness that was currently happening. To try to quell the boredom, I spent the rest of the week trying to learn every students name and face. It was pretty successful as well.

My only other issue, besides how boring it was, was how anxious Bella was. Every day when we got to school, she would look around the parking lot to see if Edward got out of his ugly little Volvo. After that, she would mope until lunch. Then she would get anxious again, trying to see if he was sitting with his family. Then she would mope again for the rest of the day. Not to mention, when she would mope, she also somehow convinced herself she was 'relaxing' because she knew he wouldn't be there to glare at her. Whatever.

By Friday, she was so anxious that, at lunch, she asked me if I could talk to Jasper and see if I could get any information on when Edward was supposed to be back. She was starting to get good at hiding her emotions, and almost looked like she was just curious about a friend that was missing too much school. I couldn't take it anymore, so I told her I would ask, if only to get her to stop being so annoying.

So when Jasper walked into American Wars that day, he found me already there, gently pounding my forehead into the tabletop of my desk. He slid gracefully into the chair beside me and then sat there and stared at me, probably trying to see if I would stop due to his presence. I didn't.

After a few minutes had gone by, he finally said, "Um…should I be concerned?"

"I. Can't. Take. It. Any. More." I punctuated each syllable with a bang of my head to the desk.

"Can't take what?" Jasper asked, catching my head as it went toward the desk again and turned my face toward him. He brought his other hand up to the sore spot on my forehead, and I nearly moaned at the feeling of his cool hands on my throbbing skin.

"It's Bella," I groaned out, pouting. "She keeps switching between anxious and mopey while convincing herself she's fine because your stupid brother hasn't shown up to school since Monday when she developed Romeo and Juliet syndrome."

"Romeo and Juliet syndrome?" Jasper asked, a small smile on his lips.

"Yep," I said, reaching up to remove his cold hand from my now-almost-numb forehead. "Damn. Your hands are better than an icepack. Wish I could keep you in my freezer for when Bella gives me headaches."

Well, that was kind of creepy. I probably shouldn't have said that out loud.

"Bad circulation," he mumbled, looking at Mr. Roberts, who was now teaching. I swear, the man must be almost deaf. Jasper and I usually talk through most of his lesson, and he never notices. How sad.

"You say 'bad circulation', I say 'useful as fuck', especially in my house," I said, trying to show I wasn't suspicious of anything. Though, I don't know why I would be. They really haven't done anything that was suspicious. Except Edward acting hostile and leaving right after sitting next to my sister in a class. Speaking of Edward… "Do you know when Eddie boy is supposed to be back? If it isn't soon, I may overdose on aspirin because of the headaches Bella's mood swings give me."

Jasper just shook his head, his eyes almost going somewhere else. "I don't know. He's had the flu all week. He's been better the last couple of days though."

"He needs to get better quicker," I mumbled, pulling out a piece of paper and a pencil to take the notes Mr. Roberts was putting on the board. He also needed to get his head out of his ass, but I couldn't say that. Yet.

The weekend seemed to pass by pretty quickly. I mostly hung out with Bella, who actually seemed as if she had gotten her emotions in order, thank God. We talked about the trip that the group we sit with at lunch was talking about taking to La Push. I was all for it, seeing as I hadn't visited any of my friends from the reservation since we had gotten here. Charlie worked most of the weekend, so I watched TV while Bella cleaned the house, worked on homework, and wrote to our mother. Bella went to the library on Saturday and came back disappointed. Hey, I had told her it sucked and that if she wanted a decent book, she would have to go to either Port Angeles or Seattle, but she didn't listen.

On Monday, multiple people greeted both me and Bella in the parking lot, and when we went to class. Emmett was in the middle of telling me a joke while we made horrible pottery when I noticed the white fluff falling from the sky. I gasped and ran over to the window, getting fingerprints and breath marks all over the glass as I glued myself there. My eyes tried to follow each of the little cotton fluffs as they fell to the ground, my body lighting up with excitement.

This was the first time I had ever seen snow in real life. I had seen it on TV before, of course, but we had lived in Phoenix, where the low all year was, like sixty-five degrees. And I had never been to Forks in the winter before.

"Seri?" I heard Emmett call, and when I didn't move from the window, I felt the air behind me drop in temperature as he moved to stand behind me. Tilting my head up, I saw Emmett leaning over me, staring out the window to see what I saw. "What are you looking at?"

"The snow," I answered, going out to look out the window. "I've never seen it before. It's beautiful."

"You've never seen snow before?" Emmett asked incredulously.

I shook my head. "Nope. We lived in Phoenix for almost eight years, and before that it was California. It's always hot there, so I've never actually seen real snow."

"Huh," Emmett said thoughtfully. "So you've never had a snowball fight or built a snowman?"

"No," I said sadly. "I've always wanted to though."

"Mr. Cullen, Ms. Swan, what are you doing by the window?" Ms. Julian asked as she came back in the room.

I'm sure it was comical, the way Emmett and I turned in unison and said, "Looking at the snow."

Yep. She was giving us a weird look, and I could feel Emmett shaking in silent laughter beside me at her expression. It was pretty funny.

"Well, could you both go back to your seats and continue your pottery, please?" she asked politely.

"Yes, ma'am," we both said, and walked back to our table where we could laugh at the way she reacted to us together.

Almost everyone was talking about the snow excitedly. Mr. Varner made me stay after class for Trig, trying to accuse me of cheating on the test he had given us that was basically a pretest to see what we knew about the next chapter. I had gotten a one hundred on it. I tried to explain to him that my school in Phoenix had wanted to bump me up to Calculus, but he didn't believe that I was really just that good at math. He actually made me take another, smaller version of the pretest with different problems while he watched. Luckily, it only had five problems and I got it done quickly.

As I was walking to the cafeteria, I could see a gargantuan man, a blond woman, a small person, another blond that was male, and a redhead. I grinned, and I tentatively looked into the future to see if my plan would work out. It did.

Slowly, I stooped down to gather a small ball of snow in my hands before stalking closer to where they were all standing. They seemed to be in deep conversation, but my vision showed me that they wouldn't mind if I interrupted them. Luckily, the conversation was deep enough to distract from my scent and the crunching of my shoes in the snow. As soon as I was within fifteen feet of them, I let the snowball loose, effectively hitting Emmett in the back of the neck.

I was pretty sure they couldn't actually feel it hitting them, but the wetness that came with it. This proved to be true as Emmett reached to the back of his neck to feel what had hit him, and I couldn't help but giggle. The sound caught their attention, and they all turned—too quickly to be human, I might add—and Emmett's face lit into a grin when he saw it was me.

"You better run, Little Red," he said, using his nickname for me. "Because you just started a war."

I squealed and started running toward Jasper as Emmett began collecting snow, dragging my hand on the ground to collect some of my own on the way. Jasper let out a deep, throaty laugh as I tried to dart behind him, catching me and holding me in front of him as Emmett nailed me with a snowball. I squealed again, and in retaliation, I smashed the snow in my hand on the top of his head. He released me in surprise, and I instead ran towards Edward, laughing, as Jasper wiped the snow off his head. Just as I had last time, I collected snow as I ran behind Edward, and he gave me a confused look as I ran behind him. I just winked at him.

It seemed like life hit pause when Emmett was hit with another snowball, this time in the chest. Everyone looked around, and I momentarily locked eyes with Rosalie, knowing it was her who threw it, and she smirked. Smirking back, I carefully reached up on my toes while everyone was distracted and smashed the snow in my hand on Edward's hair, laughing maniacally when he looked at me like I had betrayed him. I laughed even harder when a snowball suddenly connected with the side of his face.

A couple of seconds later, there was a full-blown snow war happening between the Cullens and me. Even Alice, who had whined about messing up her hair when Emmett flicked some snow on her. She, surprisingly, had been the last one to join. I had thought she would have been one of the first, since in the book she had seemed more pixie-like. Right now, she looked like a grouchy gnome instead.

When they were distracted, I carefully headed off to the cafeteria, my hunger getting to me. I was going to tell them I was leaving, but they looked like they were having too much fun to break it up. As I walked away, I wondered when they were going to notice I was gone.

Jasper's Point of View

I laughed as Rosalie shoved a handful of snow down the back of Emmett's shirt. Looking around, I wondered if Seri had thought it was just as funny as I did, but I couldn't hear her laughter. I didn't see her either. My amusement became watered down as I looked around, not seeing her, before trying to find her scent. Once I finally found it, I also found the trail her shoes had left in the snow, and saw that they led inside.

"Hey, where did Seri go?" Emmett asked, shaking the last of the snow from his shirt. It seemed like our snowball fight was over for now.

"I think she went inside," I said, and began walking to the cafeteria's entrance. Emmett pulled up beside me, giving me a brotherly push with his shoulder, which I returned. It was odd. When I first came to the Cullens with Alice, I was still pent up and on guard at all times from just coming out of the wars. Emmett had been the one that was willing to spar with me when the tension got too high, and he was the one I had gotten closest to. But since Seri had come, I had been much more comfortable with the others in the house, and had gotten even closer to Emmett. I hadn't been this relaxed since I was human.

Once we got inside and sat down, I located Seri, who was sitting next her sister at her usual table. Apparently sensing my gaze on her, she turned toward us and grinned, which I returned.

"Well, that was fun," Emmett said, drawing my attention to him. He was still standing up and over all of us, leaning on the table with his arms and a mischievous grin on his face. A moment later, he began to shake his head like a dog that just got a bath, spraying us with the water from his hair. All of us laughed at his antics, except for Alice, who whined about her hair once again and got a small compact out of her purse that had a mirror built in. She then began to start fixing her hair.

Alice had been a bit…different since Monday. She had just seemed a little more whiny than I had noticed before. I didn't know if it was something that I had just never noticed before or if it was new, so I hadn't said anything. She'd also been more distant as of late, especially at the house. She spent most of her time trying to see into the future, but all she could see was Bella. She never saw Seri, and I think she was beginning to become a little obsessive over it.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Edward look over toward where Seri was sitting, and turned to look too. As I looked over, Bella looked down, and Seri looked at me. Once we locked eyes, she rolled hers, then made a small 'x' over her heart and discreetly pointed to her sister. I almost laughed.

"Edward Cullen is staring at you," I heard Jessica Stanley whisper.

"He doesn't look angry, does he?" I heard Bella say back.

Edward's emotions told me he was offended, and I couldn't help but think, Well, what is she supposed to think, especially after she heard you trying to switch the only class you have with her and acted like an ass the whole time?

He scowled at me, but he knew I was right.

"I don't think he likes me," Bella confided in Jessica, her emotions a little queasy.

"The Cullens don't like anybody…well, they don't notice anybody enough to like them. Except Seri," Jessica said snidely. Seri just looked at her with a blank face, but I could feel anger boiling in her emotions. "But he's still staring at you."

It was funny how Jessica only noticed how Edward was staring, but not me. I guess that was a benefit of the population thinking I was taken by Alice. But I suppose I've always been the one that isn't noticed or thought about. It was one of the things that made me so dangerous in the wars: the underestimation.

"Stop looking at him," Bella hissed at Jessica, agitation entering her emotions.

Seri chuckled, amusement permeating her emotional aura, and she said, "Maybe he realized how much of an asshole he was being. Or he found the stick that was shoved up his butt and got someone to pull it out."

"Shut up," Bella mumbled into her arms, but her emotions became a bit lighter. I smirked at the scowl on Edward's face.

Their conversation became a bit boring then, talking about a snowball fight in the parking lot after school. Emmett and I began playing rock, paper, scissors, with Edward grinning as he read out minds about who was going to win. Rosalie and Alice were talking about the upcoming fashions, and I mentally groaned at the thought. I missed wearing old t-shirts and holy jeans. My favorite pair of cowboy boots were tucked away in a box in the top of our closet. I wasn't all that into the clothes Alice got us to wear, but it made her happy, so I continued to let her dress me.

Finally, it was time for American Wars. We were in the school's tiny media center, which consisted of six rows of books and twelve total computers. I think that was the real reason the desks in all the classrooms were set up for two people—so when they came to work at the computers they could work in pairs. We were supposed to be looking up answers to questions about the life of a soldier during the Civil War that were on a worksheet we were given when we walked in.

Seri had met up with me outside the room, and had snatched the paper for us when she walked past Mr. Roberts and to one of the computers. She sat directly in front of the computer, while I sat a little off to the side. I made to grab the paper, and she swiped it away from my fingers as she concentrated on actually getting on the computer.

I pouted. "Why can't I see it?"

She looked at me, smiling, and said, "Because you probably know all the answers already. It's no fun if you just tell me the answers. I actually want the satisfaction of finding the answers myself."

"What if I promise not to tell you the answers?" I asked, trying to make a deal.

She looked at me skeptically before saying slowly, "You promise?"

"Cross my heart, darlin'," I said, making an 'x' over my heart with my finger. My eyes widened a fraction of a second later when I realized my accent had slipped out. I hoped she didn't notice.

"Fine," she said, handing the paper over for me to read. I nearly sighed in relief. Nothing in her emotions suggested she had noticed the slip. That is, until she said, "Nice accent. You really shouldn't hide it."

I had no response to that, so I just looked at the questions on the paper. I wasn't supposed to have it since Rosalie didn't, and Alice didn't like it at all. She had never said so out loud, but her emotions spoke louder than words. It was a little hard for me to understand, considering we were supposed to be mates, but I didn't want to think about it. Because if I did think about, I would think about all the things Alice had changed about me since she picked me up in Philadelphia, some that I didn't like, and some that I did. Then I would start thinking about how annoying she was getting lately, like I was earlier.

"You okay, Jasper?" Seri suddenly asked. She didn't look away from the computer screen, idly clicking on different things. Her emotions showed concern, worry, and a certain amount of care that hadn't been there before.

"I'm fine," I said quietly. But then I thought, Seri is a girl. Alice is a girl. Maybe she could give me some advice? "Actually…Can I… ask you about something?"

"Jasper," she said softly, turning to look at me. She met my eyes and said in a soothing tone, "You know you can talk to me about anything."

I took a deep breath. Her words got into my head, and all I could think was, No. I can't tell you just anything. But I would tell her as much as I can. "It's Alice."

She was surprised. "Your girl?"

It wasn't that much of a surprise that she was surprised. I don't think I had ever said anything about Alice in any of our conversations before, so it was a little odd. In fact, it felt a little odd to be calling Alice my girlfriend. Everyone else was the one that would say that, so I never had to voice it. It was even weirder to be talking about it with Seri, but I just said, "Yeah."

"Okay," she said slowly. "What about Alice?"

"She's been…different lately," I began, trying to figure out how to explain this to her. "I've been noticing some things about her. Things I don't like. Like the way she was so concerned about her hair earlier when we were having the snowball fight instead of getting into it. Even Rosalie got into it, and she usually would have been the last one of us to do something like that. And she's been more distant, hasn't been spending much time with me, or any of the family really. She's become kind of obsessive over," I paused for a second, trying to figure out how to word it so Seri both wouldn't know Alice couldn't see the future and that it was her she couldn't see. "Over something she can't control."

I could feel her emotions shift. Disappointment, disgust, betrayal, anger, and then acceptance. I didn't understand it, and I looked at her face as she looked at the computer screen, trying to see if I could decipher the meaning behind her emotions. That was the one thing I hated about my gift; it told me the emotions, but not the reasons for those emotions. Her face was thoughtful, and showed none of the emotions that I could feel her giving off.

She was confusing sometimes.

"Well," Seri started, "have you talked to her about any of your concerns?"

I shook my head, sighing. I didn't want to talk to her about it, because I didn't want to start conflict with her. She had been my savior since she found me in that diner in Philadelphia fifty-seven years ago and brought me to the Cullen family. Sure, we had been drifting apart lately—even before Seri and Bella had gotten here. But I owed her.

"That would be the first step. Talk about your concerns. If she doesn't want to accept your concerns or ignores them, then…." Seri shrugged and looked at me. "Then it's your decision on what to do then."

I nodded, and she turned back to the computer to look up the next question on the worksheet. I could feel that she wanted to say something else, but as time went on, I knew she wouldn't say anything unless I asked. And I had to ask, "What is it?"

Seri looked at me again. Then she asked me, the most serious I'd heard her, "Is this you asking me to tell you my opinion on your problem? Because I'm not going to say anything if you don't want it. I'd rather have you mad at me for something you did ask for rather than something you didn't ask for."

I thought for a moment before nodding. Maybe this would give me some insight into her emotions.

"Get ready for a slight rant," she said, taking a deep breath. "Your girlfriend sounds like a control freak. She has to have everything her way. Obviously, you've been with her for who-knows-how-long, so it doesn't bother you that much, but if she is a control freak, then she might not take your concerns and opinions as something that counts to her. And I don't think that's okay. So just be careful, okay? Don't let yourself get sucked into the problem that sounds like it's hers and hers alone."

She was completely sincere and said all of this with concern, and a deep love that was reserved for the closest of friends swept over me warmly. Her words did piss me off slightly, but not enough to throw her words in the trash can. I could understand where she was coming from, and she was obviously concerned with my emotional side, like a good friend should be.

So, I shook off the pissed off feeling and said, "The answer to number eleven is C."

"Jasper," she whined jokingly. "You promised!"

I laughed, and the rest of the period went on, with Seri's words about Alice in the back of my mind.

Back to Seri

After American Wars was over, I stood outside, waiting to see if I could find Bella and her faithful puppy Mike walking to the gym. I couldn't believe Jasper had asked me for relationship advice, or that I had ranted about his girlfriend to him. Alice being a control freak had been something I'd thought since I'd read the books. I'd been hoping, since Jasper was a little different than he appeared in the books, that Alice would be a little different too. That hope was shot down with a titanium arrow today.

Bella and Mike were talking again when I found them, this time talking about how Edward seemed more friendly today. I'd hope so, considering he'd spent the last week running around Alaska. Since they had just come out of Biology II, I asked them what they had done last period. Mike then began his long, slightly amusing story about the horrors of poking himself in the eye with the microscope while we walked to the gym.

Bella told me about her more pleasant conversation with Edward as we got dressed in the locker room, and I couldn't help but say, "So he did pull that corn cob out of his butt."

Bella swatted me gently in reprimand, but in her eyes, I could see she was smiling. Bella and Mike ended up on the same team during gym, and he managed to get out of the way every time the ball went towards Bella.

It was misting outside as Bella and I walked to our trucks. It felt good after being in the hot gym, but I could tell Bella wasn't all that big of a fan. As I followed Bella home, I nearly peed my pants when she suddenly slammed on the brakes, causing me to do the same. I couldn't figure out why it had happened, since all I could see was an old, crusty Toyota Corolla rolling out of the same row we were in. Looking to my right, I saw Edward, Alice, and Rosalie standing outside the Volvo, and my head hit the horn as I hit my head on the steering wheel when I noticed Edward staring at Bella's truck in front of me. Seriously, Bella?