"Are you okay?" Rosalie asks as Jasper looks around the school hall way. He holds one hand on his stomach.
"My stomach hurts." He lies, adding a wince for good measure. She frowns and eyes him up and down. Her hand flinches, ready to feel the back of his forehead. She stops, though, not wanting to embarrass her brother. She nods towards the cafeteria and Jasper follows. They reach an empty table and take a seat.
"Like, sick hurt?" Rosalie questions.
"Sick hurt. I think I caught a bug." Jasper murmurs. He pulls his cell phone out of his pocket and types out a message. "I'm going to see if Esme can come pick me up."
Rosalie nods and watches his fingers dart across the keyboard of his cell phone, but can't read the message. Jasper's thankful for that, though, because his message definitely isn't meant for Esme. It's meant for the lover he's meeting.
Remember, Sunset Hotel. 3586 Benson Road. I can't wait to finally see you again ;) I'd love to see those red silky panties again.
"Could it be something you ate?"
"No. It definitely feels like the flu or something. I need to go home." He insists and shoves his phone into his pocket. He puts on the saddest eyes he can muster and they pull at Rosalie's heart. Jasper can tell he already has his sister hook, line and sinker, but keeps his act up for good measures. The next wince isn't an act, though.
Alice walks into the cafeteria in a long-sleeved black turtle neck sweater. It's tight on her skin and her push-up bra just elaborates her figure. Her jeans look like they're painted onto her thin legs. Her little black heals are just tall enough to keep the hem of her jeans from dragging the ground and they click as she walks. Her black hair is straightened, her face painted perfectly with concealer, mascara and light pink eyeshadow. Although Jasper can't deny being turned on by the little pixy-like girl, the feeling of the cold snow against his pair skin is still too present in his mind. His stomach truly knots now from his nerves. As she struts by, he gulps and holds up his hand.
"Hi Alice."
"Hi Rosalie," Alice smiles and slows just enough to run her hand from Rosalie's left shoulder to her right shoulder. "Nice to see you."
Jasper's face twists sadly from the emotional pain. Rosalie sighs.
"I'm sorry, Jasper."
"Not your fault she's a bitch." He mumbles. His phone vibrates and he pulls it out of his pocket to see Maria's name displayed on the screen. He stands from the table. "It's Esme. I'll be right back."
He hurries out of the cafeteria and finds a quiet hall to answer the call in.
"Hello?"
Hey, J. Are you on your way?
Jasper shivers as he stands in the snow, waiting for his cab to come pick him up. He thought it would be more difficult to convince Rosalie that Esme was coming to pick him up over his upset stomach. All he had to do was tell her that Esme called the school to tell them that Jasper's coming home, and that he was going to wait for her outside after classes started. She has no idea that he's on his way to visit Maria.
The orange cab pulls up to the sidewalk. Jasper slides into the backseat. The smell of stale cigarette smoke and gasoline makes him cough as he tells the driver where he's going. Once they pull out of the school parking lot, the driver lights a cigar and Jasper pulls out his phone.
On my way, Maria.
"Hi kids." Esme sighs as Edward and Rosalie come inside the house. Edward grunts a response, and Rosalie holds up a green paper folder. "How was your day?"
"Good. I got Jasper's homework." Rose answers. As she and Edward kick off their shoes, Esme scrunches her brow.
"His homework?"
"Yeah. Is he feeling any better?"
"Rosalie, what do you mean? Is he sick?"
Rose freezes for a moment, and the folder suddenly feels like a million pounds as she realizes what's going on. Jasper lied to her.
"He said he had an stomachache. He text you. You called him. You picked him up from school. Right?"
"No," Esme shakes her head. "He never text me. I've been home all day."
"Looks like someone's in deep shit." Edward says quietly, but Esme hears. She points towards the steps.
"Edward, to your room." Esme demands. She takes the folder from Rosalie and looks through the papers as if they would tell her where Jasper went. "Emmett, get down here!"
Edward groan and stomps up the steps. Emmett trips over the mess in his room before making it to the hallway and hurrying down the steps to meet his mother's call. The moment his feet hit the kitchen, Esme puts her hands on her hips and starts to question him.
"Where's Jasper?"
"He's not home from school?"
"No. Apparently, he skipped school today. Where did you two go yesterday?"
"We just drove through some fields, got some fast food."
"That's all? You didn't show him any place that's good to go to while skipping school?"
"No. We just left the school, we tore up some fields, stopped for gas, went through a few more fields. We stopped at McDonald's and filled up again before coming back."
"And you came straight home after that?"
"We came straight home."
"Call his cell phone, Emmett. I'll call Carlisle. Rosalie," Esme gestures towards Rose. "Think of anyplace he may have gone to."
Rosalie's mind races. She can't think of anywhere her brother would go. He doesn't have any good friends at school, and Forks isn't exactly filled with excited place to hang out. If she didn't see Alice at the end of the day she would suspect he would be with her.
"He's not answering." Emmett says.
"Did he give you any hints of where he may be?" Esme asks.
"No, he didn't say anything about-" Emmett cuts himself off as a vital detail comes into his mind. "He didn't say anything. But I did ask him to give Dad his credit card back. I don't know if he did, though."
Please review and tell me what you think, any predictions you may have or any ideas of what you'd like to see!
