AN: Do not own Twilight.

Song of the Chapter: I Want You to Want Me - Cheap Trick


Chapter 4 - I want you to want me...

After cleaning up from an awkward dinner, Bella and Charlie once again stumbling through conversation, she is extremely glad to change into a tank top and comfy pajama pants. After washing her face and brushing her teeth, she settles down in her bed to read before sleep. First things first, she knows her mom is waiting to hear from her and she's genuinely curious to see how far away they are until they reach Jacksonville. Pulling out her cellphone, she sends her a text.

First day went well. Everyone was really nice. Bella has some admirers.

The response comes back pretty fast, so happy to hear baby! she told me about them LOL but did any cute boys catch your eye? ;)

One boy immediately comes to mind.

She smiles, replaying the events from Calculus. Looking up to find the most handsome man she had ever seen staring at her was interesting. His face causes a warmth to flood her, the butterflies to appear in her belly. She had never seen anybody so...perfect. He was practically taken right from the pages of a Tolkien novel. Her real life Legolas, she giggles before a sobering though appears in her brain. What if it's a trick? There's no way that he was looking at her like that.

She knew that she wasn't ugly. The word cute had been thrown around a couple of times in regards to her, maybe even a beautiful here and there. Mostly from her mom, but she's biased. There's nothing wrong with her appearance, but when you compare him - walking perfection - to herself - possibly cute with baggage - it just doesn't make sense.

She shakes her head, deflecting the question. yes, but I'm a little more focused on passing calculus. going to be brutal this year.

Renee's response comes fast again, everything will be fine with school, try to have some fun this year. high school is the best four years of your life.

will do. where are you guys? did you make it to florida?

car broke down so we're settling down in Texas for the night. should be in jacksonville tomorrow night. get some sleep, baby, i love you. 3

goodnight, mom. love you too.

Lily feels a little sad as she plugs the phone into her charger and places it on the nightstand next to her bed. She tucks herself under the covers, wiping away a few tears. She misses her mom and despite telling herself over and over that this was the right choice for everyone, she still feels a little sad. While she and Bella have grown to be independent due to Renee's flightiness, her mom was a great person and loved her and her sister dearly.

The events of today creep back into her head. Jasper had to be playing an early senior prank or something. What a better target than the deaf new girl?

She didn't even know anything about him. He could be that type - cruel enough to play a prank on her, the new girl, the Chief's daughter. What a way to make a statement to the school and his friends, huh? Like some kind of 90s romantic comedy movie - let's make the new girl fall for him only to pull the rug out at the end of the year, it all being some kind of joke.

But, she didn't know anything about him, and maybe he wasn't like that. Maybe he actually was genuine and was interested in her. Not some silly love at first sight notion that Bella joked about, but maybe he did have a crush on her. I mean, she had developed one on him already. She always tried to maintain an optimistic approach on life, lest she just resign herself to bitterness. She was going to remain optomistic about this, so she resolves to keep an open mind, but to also keep her guard up. She wants to make friends, she wants to make this move to Forks a new adventure, she wants to be happy. So she will remain cautious, but open.

With that thought, she drifts off into a dreamless sleep.


"Jazz, wear this today. Trust me."

Jasper emerges from his walk-in closet at Alice's voice from the doorway of his room. He had just finished getting dressed for school, wearing his usual outfit - black long sleeve shirt, jeans, and a pair of black boots. Alice usually tried to change his wardrobe around, but he had put his foot down that this was what he was comfortable in. He liked basics - t shirts, jeans, boots, and occasionally sneakers. Alice, surprisingly, had relented and backed off trying to dictate his outfits, always having a soft spot for Jasper. He knew she meant well, she genuinely had fun trying to dress people up and design outfitst. He is a little skeptical when he sees her holding out a shopping bag to him.

"What is it?" he glances inside and his eyebrows raise in surprise. This is a very un-Alice like article of clothing and he can't help but reach in and run his hands over the buttery soft material. "Really?"

"Trust me," she sing-songs, skipping away from his room with a laugh. He pulls the piece of clothing on before going over to his mirror and smiling. It was a new distressed leather jacket, dark brown in color. He immediately wonders if his mate will like it.

Jasper smiles, now knowing why Alice gave it to him. Because she will.

He ignores Emmett's wolf-whistle as he slides in the back of Edward's Volvo. Alice had successfully convinced Edward that he cannot run from this problem because it will not disappear. He instead needed to face it head on and work on his control, the only way to do that was to make sure he was fed and acclimate himself to his mate's scent. After the family meeting last night, they had gone out on a hunt to be safe.

Edward was nervous and hesitant, but that determination was bubbling underneath the surface. Jasper reaches forward and projects some confidence to him, seeing him visibly straighten in his car seat. "Thank you," he thanks the empath, meeting his eyes in the rear view mirror. When they pull into the school parking lot, Edward and Jasper both perk up at the sight of the red truck parked across the parking lot, meaning that their mates were here and inside the building.

Edward pulls into his spot, Emmett and Rose parking next to them in Rose's red Mercedes. Jasper immediately looks around, trying to catch sigh of her, seeing Edward do the same. Unfortunately, it was a rainy day so most of the students were rushing inside.

"Come on, loverboys," Alice giggles, practically skipping into the school. Edward and Jasper exchange an amused glance as they follow her, Emmett and Rose trailing behind them. He holds his breath as he walks into the school, so he cannot track her that way, but he feels the ache in his chest retreating at the fact they are now in the same building. Out of the corner of his eye, Edward rubs at his chest, obviously feeling the same. He meets his brother's eyes, giving him a significant nod - you're not alone, he thinks to the mind reader. Edward gives an appreciative nod in return. He's never really been that close with Edward, he's always been more of a lone wolf, but him and Edward have something in common now, and he is going to be as supportive as he can. Edward reaches out and places a hand on his shoulder, projecting pride to him and Jasper smiles.

Not that the Cullens were distant with each other, but they felt like one cohesive unit now, these two Swan girls bringing them even closer together. Edward reads those thoughts and smiles, and Jasper feels the familial bonds between him and his siblings grow even more.

It's only before Calculus that Jasper finally spots Lily. He and Alice are walking down the hallway together when he feels the ache in his chest complete subside and he comes to a dead stop.

There she is.

Lily's standing by her locker, placing a couple of textbooks in her brown messenger bag. He takes a couple of moments to compose himself and just drink in her appearance. She's wearing a ivory long sleeve shirt, the tightness of it leaving little to the imagination. He continues tracking down her body, seeing lithe legs adorned in dark skinny jeans and dark brown ankle boots on her feet, matching the color of his jacket. Her brown hair tumbles down her back in soft waves, his hands twitch at his sides wanting to reach out and run his hands through it.

Determination surges through him and he straightens his back to walk over to her before Alice stops him.

"Wait," Alice says, quickly ruffling his hair to create more of a messy look. She studies him for a second before nodding, approving his appearance. "Okay, go."

Jasper nods, continuing his trek toward her. He actually feels himself getting nervous as he walks over to her. His mouth opens to say her name before remembering that she will not hear it. Feeling lost and panicking for a second, he takes a breath and gently taps her on the shoulder. She jumps at the sudden contact, turning around to see him standing there. Alice is getting a full shopping trip on him he decides once he feels Lily's reaction to his appearance.

Her mouth drops open a bit in surprise when she sees who tapped her shoulder. He smiles, feeling his heart swell. Jasper notices up close that she's pretty tiny, definitely over a foot shorter than him. She gives him a bit of the elevator eyes as she looks at him up and down, her emotions showing happiness, approval, and- oh, there it is - desire. His chest puffs at this and his smile widens as he finally catches her lovely brown eyes.

"Hello, I'm Jasper," he says while signing. Vampires have eidetic memory, he was able to memorize American Sign Language in about two hours, practicing with Esme all last night and he thinks he got it down pretty well. Esme had learned sign language ten years ago when she her and Carlisle had made a hefty donation to a deaf children's charity. Carlisle had learned sign as he thought it would be easier to communicate with any deaf patients of his. "It is nice to meet you."

The happiness and surprise that surges in her nearly knocks him on down, making learning all last night worth it. While her emotions are mostly positive, there's an underlying uncertainty and suspicion under them. Probably because of yesterday. He first sees her and runs and now he's approaching her in the hallway. Though he feels those emotions fading a bit as a wide smile breaks across her face. Her heartbeat quickens a fraction as she signs back, nice to meet you, Jasper. I'm Lily.

"Sorry about yesterday, I was not feeling well," he signs, causing her to wave off his apology. "I wanted to properly introduce myself to you since we will be sitting next to each other."

Lily just smiles at this, the suspicion in her emotions slowly fading. "Can I walk with you to class?"

Her surprise hits him before she blushes and nods, slamming her locker closed and swinging her bag over her shoulder. Jasper wants to reach out and take her bag for her, but knows that might be overstepping some bounds as they have just properly met two minutes ago. Take it slow, he coaches himself, happy to just walk next to her, reveling in her happy emotions.

Once they reach their destination, he opens the classroom door for her with an 'after you' motion, causing her to smile and sign, thank you.

He sees Rosalie in her seat, toward the back, bored mask on her face until she spots them and her perfectly arched eyebrow raises in the air. He just smiles at her and is pleased with the corner of her mouth quirks up.

Pulling out her chair for her, like the good southern gentlemen he is, they settle in their seats and wait for class to start. Who he assumes is Lily's sign interpreter is already there waiting, giving them a kind smile whens he sees them together. They settle in their seats just as the bell rings, Mr. Duncan standing up from his desk. "Okay class, it's the middle of February, you know what that means?"

"Don't do it, please," one of the students from the back of the class says.

"It's project time, yay!" he fake cheers as the class groans and playfully boos him, "Alright, alright, pipe down. I'm going to take it easy on you guys, instead of assigning you partners, you will be able to work with a partner of your choosing."

The class cheers at this and Jasper could kiss Mr. Duncan for this, giving him the perfect opportunity to work with Lily, to get to know her and befriend her - if she wants to partner up of course.

"Alright, quiet down," Mr. Duncan instructs, "Please take ten minutes to get with your partners, we'll go over the project after."

Jasper immediately turns around to Rosalie a couple rows back, who knows exactly what he is about to ask. Rolling her eyes, she nods her approval and turns toward the over eager kid next to her, hoping to partner up. Jasper mouths "thank you," and turns back to Lily who looks a little unsure, glancing around the room. He can feel that some of the boys in here are attracted to her, wanting to partner up but he's not going to give them the chance. He gently taps her on the shoulder to get her attention. She looks over at him and he smiles, "Partners?" he asks while signing.

She smiles and nods, relief hitting him like a truck, partners.

Mr. Duncan goes around to the students who already have their partners, handing out the project information. It's left unread on their desk as Lily looks at Jasper a little shy.

Are you feeling better? she signs to him and Jasper looks at her confused for a moment, so she elaborates, you were sick yesterday.

"Oh," he says, remembering that was the reason he gave that he had run out of class. "Much better, thank you."

She nods and he knows that he's against he clock right now to talk to her, Mr. Duncan going to start class soon. How are you liking Forks so far?

She shrugs, it's not so bad. A little cold, but everyone is nice. How long have you lived here?

"We moved here last year," he signs, "You don't like the cold?"

Not really, I get cold easy, she shrugs again.

"You moved to the wrong area then" he jokes, "Thought I don't mind at all."

Color rushes to her cheeks at his meaning and she looks down shyly, though he sees the smile curving at her lips. I thought maybe you didn't like me.

What? How? Why? Panic rushes through Jasper at that, what the hell had he done to give her that idea? "Why?"

Lily shrugs, you looked at me and ran away. Thought you were mad I was at your desk. Thought I did something wrong.

"Never," he immediately says, adamantly signing. He doesn't understand how she could ever do anything wrong or be anything less than amazing. "I'm truly sorry about that. Just getting over a bug and didn't want to get you sick."

She nods, glancing down but he's not done. He reaches out to the small hand that's resting on the desk and covers it with his large one, catching her attention. He feels the shock at the first contact and feels her jump to, did she feel it? Her hand is so tiny under his as he covers it. She takes in a sharp breath and raises beautiful brown eyes to meet his. He signs with one hand, reluctant to tear contact from her and he hopes she understands, "I'm truly happy that you are next to me."

Lily smiles wide at this, nearly knocking him over in his seat. Beautiful.

"Reel it in, Romeo," Rosalie hisses low to him, causing him to reluctantly break their moment. She's right, he doesn't want to overwhelm the girl and scare her off. He takes his hand back and swears that he feels a little disappointment from her at the loss of contact as he glances over at the project sheet. Though this is easy to him, it looks like he's not making this project easy for the rest of the humans.

"We might have to work on this after school," Jasper signs, being hit with a brilliant idea. "I could come over your house, or you could come to mine?"

Lily blushes, her heartbeat picking up a little bit at this, though her emotions do not read displeased - quite the opposite. Yes, that would be fine, she bites her bottom lip, suddenly nervous. I just have to check with my dad, I don't think he will mind because it's for school, her cheeks redden after that statement, much to his amusement. He doesn't think any father would be too pleased with their daughter being home alone with a boy and he has to respect that - especially given Lily's deafness, her being in a more vulnerable state. Do you want to exchange numbers?

Jasper's heart leaps at this, nodding his head with a smile as he quickly writes down his number on a piece of notebook paper and hands it to her. She does the same, handing it to him with a shaky hand. In her neat loopy handwriting is her name and phone number and from the area code, it's a cellphone. A direct connection to her. HE smiles at her, just as Mr. Duncan catches the attention of the class to go over their project.

Jasper can't help but keep stealing glances over at the girl next to him. His mate.

As soon as the bell rings, Jasper immediately goes to ask Lily if he can walk her to lunch, but Rosalie hisses at him at vampire speed, "No, you'll seem too eager."

"See you later?" Jasper asks, really hoping that he made a good impact on Lily. He understands what Rosalie is saying, he wants to take this at Lily's pace, but he constantly wants to be around her. To learn more about her. To learn everything about her.

To his delight, Lily nods with a large smile, absolutely.

Once they're in the hallway, his mate waves at him before walking in the direction of the lunch room, Jasper standing in his spot watching her go. Rosalie walks out to wait with him, watching her starstruck twin in amusement. Alice then skips over to them, smiling at the dazed look on his face. "So, how was it?"

"Incredible," Jasper says, dreamily. Alice giggles at him while Rosalie playfully rolls her eyes. Secretly, she approves of the girl. She seems sweet and smart, and good for Jasper. She has never seen him this happy before and she knows that it's part of the mating bond. Romantic bonds are not guaranteed with mating, but like everything else, love can grow. Right now, though, she thinks Lily and Jasper will enjoy the friendship and courting part of the process. Taking it slow will be very good and will make the bond grow even stronger.

As she sees Emmett walking down the hallway toward them, carrying the painting he had just created in his Intro to Art class, she smiles wide. Emmett, while an actual whiz at math, didn't want to take Calculus this time around, instead electing to take Art to "learn some new skills," as he had said. She had just rolled her eyes at her mate and kissed him.

Thinking back to when Emmett was dying and she had brought him back to Carlisle, she had knew that he would be important to her. Given the fact that time was running against them as he bled, she couldn't really ponder whether she felt the mating pull then. Looking back, she knew that's why she had stumbled upon him.

They were not romantic from the start - her still feeling broken from her rape. Instead, Emmett was her safe harbor, her most trusted confidant, and her friend. Then, she fell in love with him. Emmett catches her smile and returns it with that adorable grin and those dimples she loves so much. Students jump out of the way of the brawny Cullen as he picks up his pace toward her and slings a heavy arm around her shoulder. "Babe, look what I made! Think Esme will hang it on the fridge?"

Rosalie smiles at his childlike enthusiasm, "It's beautiful, Em."


Lily feels nervous as she turns the phone around in her hand, the text was already typed, she was trying to work up the nerve to send it. She glances back down at the message she's about to send and every time she goes to send it, she chickens out. What is wrong with you? Just send the dang message, she chides herself, glancing back down to it and chickening out again.

Bella had known something was up when she walked over to their lunch table with a small smile playing on her lips. She seemed almost dreamy, sitting there with that stupid little smile on her face. Bella raises an eyebrow as Lily looks over to her, What's going on?

Lily's face is picture of innocence, nothing.

Sure, Bella signs, rolling her eyes. You're a bad liar. Did something happen in class?

Lily just smiles and nods shyly, taking another bite of her sandwich. Her eyes trail over to a table at the far end of the cafeteria and Bella follows her gaze. She sees the blonde male, Jasper, look up as if he feels Lily's eyes on him and he immediately smiles. Lily blushes red as a tomato and looks back down at the table.

Bella keeps watching the Cullen table, seeing Jasper catch her eye and give her a more polite smile before looking away. Her heart then drops into her stomach when Edward - the jerk from Biology - looks over at her and grins at her. What in the world? Yesterday, he looked at her - and acted - as if she was disgusting, repulsive even. Now, he grins at her? She doesn't return it, still extremely sour from yesterday and instead turns away to look at her blushing sister.

What happened? Bella demands from her sister, Lily sighing in defeat.

Jasper and I talked. He walked me to class. We are doing a project together.

Wow, Bella says, surprised. What's he like?

He's very sweet, Lily says with a smile.

Bella then glances back to Edward, seeing him still watching her. She blushes at his attention and turns back to Lily, ignoring the swooping feeling in her gut. Did he...say anything about his brother?

Lily frowns in confusion, no, we didn't talk about his family. Why?

Bella shakes her head, annoyed that she had asked. Forget about it?

Lily reaches out and places a hand on her sister's arm, is everything okay?

He's acting different today, Bella tries to discreetly nod toward the Cullen table. Edward. No glare, he smiled at me.

Lily shrugs, Jasper said he was sick yesterday, maybe Edward was too?

Bella nods, maybe.

Are you going to talk to him today?

Again Bella signs, maybe.

You should, maybe it was a misunderstanding yesterday. Like Jasper, Lily shrugs, hoping that things do work out for Bella. She hopes that Edward was maybe just having a bad day or was sick or another good reason to explain his behavior. She looks over at the Cullen table and sees Edward still looking. When he catches her gaze, he grins and nods once in a greeting. She returns it, maybe he's not such a bad guy?

At dinner with Charlie, they sat around the table with lasagna Bella and Lily had made. Lily swirled the food around on her plate, trying to find the right time to ask Charlie about the project with Jasper. She honestly was not sure how he was going to react. She knew he was protective of her and Bella, but this was a school project and they did have to work together. She glances up to see Bella looking at her amused, knowing her inward dilemma as if she could read her mind. Bella apparently also had success with Edward in Biology class.

Lily had waited by the truck for her sister and watched in confusion as Bella walked out of the school, almost in a daze. She mindlessly got into the car and starting it but not going anywhere. Lily watched her, trying to remain patient but was bubbling with anxiety on the inside. Did something happen? Did Edward say something bad? Did he hurt her?

We talked, Bella finally signs, Like yours, he apologized and introduced himself.

Lily is very pleased with this, smiling at her sister, that's good!

Bella nods, yeah, but...something is wrong.

What?

His eyes, Bella starts, frowning as she tries to articulate her concerns. They were gold today, but yesterday they were black.

Lily goes to answer, before she stops. Gold, Jasper's eyes are gold, which is a very odd color. She's never seen someone with gold eyes before him. She never realized that Edward's eyes are also gold too, maybe they are related somehow? But they were black yesterday? Did you ask him about it?

He said the fluorescent lights were probably messing with his eyes, Bella shrugs, not believing him but not knowing what the other option was. He was nice today, though.

So Lily was glad that Edward was nice to her sister today, but she was a little more concerned with her dad's response to this questions. She playfully glares back at her sister's smile and catches Charlie's attention.

"Is everything okay, Lily?" Charlie asks, a little concerned. He had noticed that she was a bit fidgety and wasn't really eating, but he didn't really know how to broach the subject. He had decided to wait for her to come to him, and he was glad she finally did.

She nods, I have a Calculus project and I'm partnered with Jasper Hale.

"Dr. Cullen's son?" Charlie asked, receiving a nod from Lily. "Well, that's good. Dr. Cullen is a great man, we are extremely lucky to have him in this little Podunk town. All of his kids seem nice too."

We'll need to work on it after school, so...can he come over here to work on it?

"Yeah, that should be okay," Charlie immediately says, then realizing that an eighteen year old senior would be alone in the house with his sixteen year old daughter. He decides to set a hard rule, "As long as me or Bella are here."

She nods, accepting this before deciding to also ask, can I go to his house to work on it?

"Again, as long as Dr. or Mrs. Cullen are home, sure. I'm fine with it."

Lily smiles, thanks, dad.

So this is where Lily had found herself for the past half hour, trying to send the message to Jasper that Charlie was fine with them working on the project at their houses. She didn't understand why she was so nervous, perhaps because this was opening up another bridge of communication with him.

She takes a deep breath, looking back down to the phone once more. Be brave, you are Eowyn. Do not lock yourself in a cage, Lily Swan. Determination courses through her veins as she looks down at the phone and presses send, letting out a breath. She smiles in victory, taking that first leap - even though it was just texting a boy. A boy who she has a crush on and is the most handsome man she has ever seen. Nevertheless, she feels brave and strong, but now she waits for his response.

And she hopes it comes fast.


AN: Thanks for reading. Let me know what you think.