I Followed Her, and She Led Me to You

Chapter 9

Summer break was finally here and we could spend it doing whatever we wanted without having to deal with school and teachers. School was starting to grate on my nerves more than ever. I had never been a big fan of the constant repeating of high school, but I shut up and continued with it because I understood it was necessary for us to do so in order to remain inconspicuous in the community. But even now that I had a reason to be at school, to see Bella, I was beginning to really resent it. Which is why I was so happy it was summer break.

Since prom things had been a little strange in the house, everyone was trying to tiptoe around the fact that Alice and I had broken up; except for Alice and I. No one else seemed to understand that we were ok, and genuinely happy for ourselves and one another. No one was particularly wary that Bella and Edward had broken up though. They still got to behave normally and no one was weird about it. Well except for Bella's human friends.

The first day back at school after prom Bella had sat at lunch with Angela and Jessica and their friends to be polite and ask everyone how their prom night went. She got all of the details which bored her endlessly, but she felt the need to endure it. Then, when asked about how her night with Edward went, and if anything happened, Bella had come clean and said that they had broken up. I think all of the girls were expecting Bella to be torn up about it and were a bit taken aback that she wasn't. But for all of the boys she knew, even the ones who were supposed to be dating someone, it was game on again. I nearly had to rip out a few throats when the lustful feelings got too bad. Edward just sat in his chair growling for the rest of lunch. He was kind of jealous.

After the first day back after prom, the gossip started and it effected Bella horribly. First it was Lauren, who was possibly the most malicious teenage girl I had come across, constantly asking Bella about Edward. First they seemed to be normal sort of questions like 'what did you do around each other?' and other harmless questions. Then they become more malicious like 'were you too frigid? Didn't give him what he wanted?' At first Bella tried to ignore it, but it hit her hard and took a toll. The final straw came when Lauren started to suggest that she would be more suited to giving Edward what he needed. I nearly ripped out her throat for how she was treating my Bella. Other students started to say things like this after Lauren suggested it, but luckily they didn't say it to Bella's face like Lauren did, although Bella was definitely aware of what was happening.

And because all the gossip affected her so negatively, we all just focused on being her friends when at school, letting her vent her frustrations and not taking anything to heart. After Lauren's comments one day at lunch Bella cried to the point where I took her home, and Edward told the teachers she had come down sick. It was the first time any of us had seen Bella cry. And it wasn't because of the specific words that Lauren had chosen because on that day she chose relatively mild words, it was just the culmination of all the feelings she had since she met Edward, as well as the feelings and comments since Phoenix, and now all of the comments and looks since they broke up. She had never felt like she deserved Edward, and now the people who were supposed to be her friends were confirming this in her mind. It was enough to break even the strongest of humans, and Bella truly was one of them. In that state of absolute emotional turmoil Bella had come to me.

In another situation I would have been ecstatic, but her emotions were torturous. I sat at her house with her all afternoon after taking her home from school. In her living room there was one little couch and Bella sat there, curled into my side and sobbed for a couple of hours, until her dad came home. He was concerned something terrible had happened, or that Edward had done something to Bella, and I guess he was probably concerned Bella had found out she was pregnant or something. I was able to tell him most of what had happened at school recently, and he understood how much of a toll that would take on Bella. Bella fell asleep on the couch after a while, with a little help from me, but I didn't want to manipulate her emotions too much. She didn't like it when I did and I knew she needed to work her way through it.

Charlie ordered pizza and asked me to stay for dinner with him, and to not be rude, I had accepted. I ate a few pieces, enough to satisfy him, and then I carried Bella up to her room and placed her in her bed. She was exhausted and I don't think she had been sleeping well recently. When I returned to the living room, intending on saying good bye to Charlie for the night and leaving, Charlie asked me to stay and talk.

"Tell me the truth Jasper, did Edward hurt her?"

"No of course not, Charlie," in the past he had insisted I call him by his first name rather than 'sir' as I normally would have, "It was truly the comments of people at school."

"Well you just look after my little girl for me, won't you. I get the feeling you and your family are more than capable of taking care of her for me." Did he just allude to the fact he knew we were different? I would need to speak with Carlisle.

"I will, we all will. We could never abandon her, she has truly become a part of our family." I would just ignore that other bit for now.

"Thank you. You just make sure she never feels like this again, won't you Jasper." Was that a subtle threat, his emotions suggested it was. But for what? Was he perceptive enough that he could tell there was something between Bella and me? Even before there was actually anything happening between the two of us?

But it wasn't just a matter of protecting her from other people but herself as well. She had truly come to believe that she wasn't good enough for anyone, and that no one would ever want her. So from that day on it became the mission of our family to prove to Bella that she was always worth it. We included her in as much as possible, we spoke to her whenever possible, and we offered to help her study for her finals. Bella was almost always at our house when we weren't at school, or some of us were at Bella's. We all strengthened our relationships with Bella over the month between prom and summer break, and she became an integral part of our family, as important to our survival as any other member. We had gone past the point where it would be possible for us to survive without her.

Carlisle and Esme had gained another child, and their love for Bella was as strong and pure as their love for any of us in the family. They were there for her to talk to about anything, and provided any support she needed. Bella was able to have a relationship with a mother figure that she never had with her own mother, and she craved it with everything in her being. Bella loved her own mother of course, but she wanted someone to look after her, without Bella having to look after them first. She had explained to me that she was the one to make sure the bills were paid, and the car had gas, and any other expenses were taken care of, and she wanted someone to do that for her for once. And Carlisle was always there for anything. While Bella and Charlie had a good relationship, there were some things Bella wouldn't go to her father for, but could go to Carlisle if needed.

Emmett was able to be the true big brother he always tried to be for everyone in the family. But none of us needed the big brother figure, sure we liked the playfulness he brought to our sometimes dull life, but we didn't need him to fight our battles and give us brotherly advice. But Bella did, and they both loved every minute of it. He was there to relieve any tension she had with his fun, laid back attitude. After that first day after prom where Emmett and Bella had a video game and movie day, they made it a weekly occurrence. Every Sunday morning Bella would drive over, or someone would pick her up and she would have breakfast at our place, under the guise of having it with us, and they would spend at least a few hours together, depending on how much homework she needed to get finished.

Alice and Bella were still best friends, and at times were attached at the hip. Alice was worried that their relationship would be difficult to maintain once Bella and I got together, but after Bella had a nightmare in which she remembered more of the events from the ballet studio and specifically what James had told her about Alice's past, they formed a stronger bond. The week after prom they had watched the recording of the attack together and spent the following night together, locked in Alice's room, bonding over the fact that they were the two lone survivors of James. That bond was something nothing would ever get between. They continued their new found bonding through typical teenage girl things, make overs and shopping, and although Bella was not as passionate about shopping as Alice, she came to like it because she was spending time with her sister. Because that was their relationship now; they were as much sisters as Alice and Rose.

This newfound sisterhood effected Rosalie too, she could no longer claim that Bella was a danger to the family, she could see that removing Bella would damage us irreparably. So she began to get to know Bella. They were alike in some ways, they were both too stubborn for their own good, and incredibly protective over the ones they loved. So they had a tentative bond, it was growing, and Rose was getting much better at hiding her dislike when Bella walked into the room. Or maybe the dislike was actually lessening.

And Edward and Bella were friends. There wasn't much difference between their relationship now and when they were together. Just they didn't kiss anymore and Edward was even more wary about any physical contact. It was stiff and awkward, but it was them, they could both be stiff and awkward so it worked for the two of them. It made them happy they had found a good friend, although to begin with both of them had confused a good friend with a lover. They could both be idiots sometimes because of their inexperience with life; they were the babies of the family, even if Edward was one of the oldest.

And there was me. I hadn't pushed anything with Bella, but I could feel that we were both attracted to each other but I also knew that she was not ready. If we started dating, she was going to face scrutiny at school, and that was not something she was coping with now. She still saw the looks when she continued to sit with us, people talking about how she was clinging to Edward and was being possessive. Stupid humans didn't know what they were talking about. It killed me to hear all of this and see her struggle. So I was her friend for now, I listened to her when she wanted to vent, I offered her advice when she wanted it, and I was just there for her.

It was a little difficult at first to know that she was my mate and not be able to do anything about it. It was even more difficult because she didn't know, and she was a part of the family. She was there, but oblivious. Well, not totally oblivious, she had recently become more aware of me, she was even able to identify if I was near. That was strange. I had been in my room assembling a new desk I had bought, and she came over for her usual Sunday morning with us. She greeted everyone who was downstairs, being Emmett, Alice, Rose and Carlisle, and then called out to me.

"Hey Jasper, I'll come see you after I eat." She called in a voice no louder than a normal conversation, knowing I could hear.

"Hey Bella, I'll be down in a minute." I called back, before hearing Alice pass on the message as Bella hadn't heard.

"How did you know Jasper was here?" Carlisle questioned, which caught our attention. No one had really realised she had done that.

"I don't really know…." She hesitantly answered, not quite telling the truth. But why would she lie? I ran down the stairs and appeared next to her, and she didn't even flinch, she just smiled at me. It was weird.

"What do you mean you don't know?" I queried.

"I mean I don't know exactly, I just did." She was a little shocked with herself I think.

"Do you always know things like this? Or was it just now, with Jasper?" Carlisle asked.

"Only with Jasper," She blushed, knowing it wasn't a normal thing. "I can just tell when he is around."

We didn't question her any further, but we took it as conformation of her being my mate.

And now, here we were. It was summer and we had nothing to do other than be ourselves and do our own thing. Carlisle and Esme wanted to plan a family vacation of sorts, back up to Denali for a week or so and most of us wanted to go to. I as a little more hesitant than the rest, Bella wouldn't be coming with is, she had recently gotten a job at Newton's outdoor store and would be working, not that it would be an ideal holiday for a human anyway. So I was going to stay, and Emmett and Alice were also both considering it. Maybe Bella could stay with us for the week and we could work on building up her mental strength so that next year at school wouldn't be as tough as it had been at the end of this year.

"Call her now and invite her over for the week!" Alice yelled out from her room next to mine, clearly after having a vision of the week. "Emmett and I will stay as well and it will be fun! Call her now." So I guess my plans for that week had been settled, as well as Emmett and Alice's and Bella's. It would be fun, a week with my brother, Alice, and Bella.

….

A.N.: Sorry this is just a little bit of a filler chapter, I just wanted to set up some of the upcoming events so I didn't just launch into them.

On a more serious note, those of you who have not followed my other stories would be unaware that in the past I have struggled with both anxiety and depression, and both have had a negative impact on my writing. I'm not telling you this as a way to ask for pity, I just want people to know that if I don't post in a while with no explanations it is because of my depression. For me, my depression comes in the form of complete and total apathy (no emotions or feelings), and absolutely no motivation to do anything. Today was a pretty bad day, I didn't go to university and I didn't even have the motivation to dry my hair after a shower. It took me nine hours to write this chapter, and parts of it had been written already in the past few days. So I am sorry if the quality of my work is not the same as it has been in the past.

Sorry about the long AN, I just want people to be aware that sometimes the people we suspect the least can have the worst internal battles- not that mine is by any means the worst. I just want to ask my readers (and I know there are a lot of you because this is shaping up to be my most popular story) to be aware, and if you suspect someone you know may be depressed, or anxious, just ask them if they are ok. Just people asking that can make a huge difference because it shows that people care.

Again, sorry for the long note, and thank you for reading, please leave a review if you want to discuss any parts of the story, I really enjoy having a connection with my readers and make an effort to reply to any reviews every few days.

Thank you,

xx