Chapter 4: Repetitive

A/N: Hi, here's another chapter. Thanks for reviewing :D.

On Tuesday, Jasper Hale wasn't in school. This time I never felt guilty. I knew it wasn't my fault, he just had a problem. Yesterday had seemed like a repeat of last week; he had left and he had made it seem as if it were to do with me. We had barely even spoken to each other and yet he hated me. He hated me so much that he would leave school because of it. And I was just as bad because I hated him. I hated him because I, for some inexplicable reason, wanted him to come back.

It had rained last night and the snow from yesterday had melted, making the ground slightly slippery. As usual Charlie left for work early. I walked to school, and endured Mike and Eric's clinginess, which was not only annoying, but also unnerving. Teachers piled us up with homework and Charlie insisted we spend more time together, organising board game nights, and movies. I knew Charlie meant well but I was having less and less time to do what I came to Forks for; Travers.

He was proving difficult to find. In fact, I hadn't even found out if he was in or near Forks. I hoped he was, because that was the area I had been assigned. They had put around fifty Aurors in different areas to search, not to mention the wanted posters. I had considered the possibility he was dead, but had realised that even if he was, we'd have to keep looking so we could prove it.

On Wednesday Jasper Hale was back in school. He had only been gone one day this time as opposed to a week. The first thought I had when I saw him sitting with his siblings at lunch was how I wished he'd make up his mind of whether he was leaving or staying. Yesterday I had wanted him to come back, but now he was back, I knew It'd be better if he hadn't returned. Jasper Hale was just another distraction from my job and that wasn't good.

In Biology that day instead of ignoring him like I should have, I decided to talk to him. If he wasn't going to talk to me, then fine. It was a wonder he hadn't asked to move seats. I sat down and pulled out my notebook, textbook and pen like always. Like Monday, Jasper Hale was already there. He wasn't doing anything. He was just...there. It was like he was an illusion, a projection; seemingly there, but not.

I glanced sideways at Jasper Hale. People were still arriving and a low chatter had built up. Mr Molina was at his desk, sorting through his lesson planner. I took a deep breath. "Good morning." I said quietly, so that no one else would hear, unless they were standing next to us. He turned to face me. I couldn't quite read his expression. It was like a cross between pain, confusion, and very slight anger. What was the anger for? He was silent for a second before he spoke in the same quiet voice from Monday.

"Hello." I smiled slightly because I had been expecting him to ignore me. Mr Molina had the worst timing. He looked up from his desk at the now full class. He cleared his throat unnecessarily loudly, to get our attention.

"Onion root tip cells!" He declared, clapping once as if that was something we were meant to be excited about. "That's what's under your slides right now. So," He began walking down the aisle, "label them into the phases of mitosis," He turned and walked back up, "and the first group to get it right wins...the Golden Onion!" Several people cheered as he held up what looked like a spray painted onion. I inwardly rolled my eyes.

I turned to look at Jasper awkwardly. I was annoyed at him, I realised. He left school for a week, and for a week I felt guilt because of that. Then he came back, only to leave again, and now he was acting relatively normal, even friendly. He pushed the microscope towards me. "Ladies first." He said. I hesitated as I debated whether he was joking. He was being exceedingly polite and I knew I'd be disappointed when he went back to ignoring me. No matter how much I pretended I hated him, there was a small part of me that didn't. I pulled the microscope closer and looked into it carefully. It was either prophase or interphase. They all looked similar, but prophase and interphase seemed identical (A/N: they do). I guessed.

"Prophase?" Great. Now It sounded like I was asking a question. He heard the hesitancy in my voice.

"Would you mind if I checked?" I shook my head and he pulled the microscope towards him. He looked into it for just a few seconds before he nodded. "It's prophase." Surprise ran through me. I had gotten it right, maybe I could pass decently in muggle school. He wrote it neatly, and put the next slide in. "So, what do you think of the weather?"

If I hadn't seen his lips move, I wouldn't have thought he had spoken. He was not only being polite, he was making an effort to talk to me. I realised he was still waiting for an answer. "It's okay, I haven't seen snow for a while." He nodded and only looked into the microscope for a second.

"It's anaphase." I nodded, and put the next slide in as he wrote it. As I peered into the microscope, he spoke again. "What made you move to Forks?" That was unexpected. I tried to remember my cover story. I was a half decent liar, I suppose, but I was being put on the spot, and that made it infinitely harder to be convincing.

"Oh, um...my parents died during the summer, and Chief Swan decided to foster me, so…" I trailed off as I saw his usually blank expression change to sympathy.

"I'm sorry." He said. I assured him it was fine, and the rest of the lesson passed in silence.

I found, that day, that when I was walking home after school I was extremely happy. He had spoken to me, we had actually had a full conversation. Yes, he had been sitting as far away from me as possible - as if I was carrying a fatal disease or something - but still. No, I thought, he'll be back to 'normal' by tomorrow.

"Evvy, is that you?" Everyday when I arrived home Charlie asked the same question, and always received the same answer.

"Yes." I called. After dropping my bag on my bedroom floor, I locked my door and ran back downstairs. I intended to go to the forest again, to perfect the tracking charm. I needed to be as accurate as possible, if I wanted a chance at finding Travers. Just as I was about to step outside, Charlie spoke.

"Not so fast, young lady." I turned around and raised an eyebrow. "I know exactly what you're up to," Did he? I felt a sudden stab of fear at the thought. What if he did know? Hiding something from the person you lived with was a lot harder than hiding something from people at school. "You're avoiding me." I breathed a sigh of relief, but he didn't seem to notice. "Evvy, I know we don't know each other too well, and things are a little awkward, but we are going to make an effort to make this work." Great. "So," he continued, walking forward to close the front door. "Do you know Billy Black, lives down by the reservation?" His tone changed from 'Army General' to casual. I shook my head no, and wondered where he was going with this, but I could already tell it wasn't going to be good for me. "Billy's an old friend of mine, he invited us down to dinner today." I suppressed a groan. My tracking charm plans were ruined.

"He has a son 'round your age, do you know him? Called Jacob, I think."

"No." I replied. There was no getting out of this.

Jacob was friendly. Not in the Mike-Eric way, but in a friendly way. A good way. He was easy to talk to, the kind of person you could talk to anything about.

We were walking along La Push beach while Charlie and Billy were talking about something away from the water. The beach was cold, very cold and every time a wave crashed down I was sprayed with tiny jets of icy water. "I've never seen you in school before." I said casually as we picked our way through a pile of seaweed.

"Oh, I go to school on the reservation." He smiled. "What made you move here then?" He asked.

Ugh. Not again. I felt somewhat bad lying to Jake, since he, unlike Jasper, was nice to me but there was nothing I could do.

"I'm sorry, about your parents." He said looking genuinely sorry. That only made me feel worse. I insisted it was fine, perhaps a little too convincingly and he looked at me suspiciously. I mentally cursed myself and changed the subject in a way that could only be described as the opposite of subtle.

"So, um...I read up about Quileutes just before I came here." The suspicion melted from his face as he grinned.

"Yeah? What did you read?"

"Oh, nothing much. Just a few legends. Something about wolves, I think." Another wave crashed down, and I pulled my coat tighter around myself.

He laughed. "Yeah, it's crazy. People say Quileutes were descended from wolves." He laughed as if it was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard, but when you had seen dragons and unicorns, descended from wolves sounded normal. But gross, if you really thought about it.

"Really?" I asked absentmindedly. "What's the legend?" I picked up a string of slimy seaweed.

"Oh, it's just a scary story really." I could tell from his tone that he was going to tell me anyway. "The Cullens are in it too."

"The Cullens?"

He nodded. "They play a big part in the story, actually." I waited for him to continue.

"Okay, so…" He changed his voice to the kind of creepy, horror story type. "It all started a long time ago, when -"

"Evvy!" Charlie called. "C'mon, we're going home now!"

"Coming!" I called back. I turned back to Jacob.

"You better go." He said. "Hey, this was fun. Come another time?" He added hopefully.

I smiled. "Definitely, you'll have to tell me that 'scary story' too."

"Hey, it is scary!" He said while laughing. I rolled my eyes and dropped the string of seaweed on the sand.

"Evvy!" I waved to Jake as I ran down the beach towards Charlie and Billy. Jacob waved back. I had made a new friend.

A/N: that's all for this chapter, I know it's short so I'll try and write another soon. The descended from wolves thing; I thought what Evvy thought when I read that in the book. Read and review, thanks!