Bella woke to a brief flash of sunlight across her face before the warmth was swallowed up by the nearly omnipresent cloud cover. She groaned in frustration, stretching her arms outwards and flexing her fingers. A glance at her clock told her she had beaten the alarm by a solid 15 minutes. Realizing that trying to fall asleep again would be pointless, she stiffly pulled back her covers and sat at the edge of her bed. She ran her hands through her tangled hair and pulled a piece of grass from a snarl near her ends.
Oh, right, I was laying in the grass...with Jasper...
Mortified as she remembered the events of the night previous, the messy-haired girl covered her face.
I nuzzled into him like a damn house cat! What the fuck is wrong with me?!
Her expression shifted from embarrassed to horrified as she remembered what exactly had led up to that move on her part. He took off his shirt and the scars- Bella couldn't think of a time she had ever feared for a person's safety and emotional well-being more. What happened to you, Jasper? Who could do that to someone as strong as you?
The pain she felt for her new friend was quickly replaced with rage.
I will slaughter the person or people responsible! I'll tear them limb from limb and dance on their graves.
Whoa, girl. What? I mean, yes, but damn. That's a little forward. Where the hell did that come from?
Bella tried to identify what she was feeling.
He is ours.
Ah, possessive, her brain suggested after a few moments.
Perhaps, due to the nature of felines, and it being a mere 16 hours until the actual full moon, I'm feeling a little more animalistic, she reasoned. Yeah, that's it. I've become territorial over the first friend that I share my secret with, that's all.
If you can call him a friend, the insecure side of her tacked on. Hey, traitor, that's not nice. Let's not self-deprecate today. He might not know who I am, but he clearly enjoys our time together. I'd say that makes us semi-friends. Or at least on the way to being friends.
She sighed and decided that arguing with herself wasn't going to solve anything. Take a nice, hot shower and get through today. Don't let anyone under your skin. Calm thoughts. And definitely don't think about Jasper with his shirt off...
Bella was only three hours into her daily classes when she decided it would be better to speak as little as possible. In the first hour, she had snapped at Jessica for rejoicing that Edward Cullen was back in school. During her second period class, a well-meaning Mike Newton took far too long asking her to go to the movies sometime and received a brusque "Not likely," from the animal pacing inside of her. "I don't date," she added to soften the blow.
Way to be diplomatic, she chided herself.
WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON, ANYWAYS, the animal argued.
I'm just saying...it's a small town.
YEAH, YEAH.
During her third-period math class, Bella was selected to answer a question that she didn't know have the solution for. That alone wouldn't have been so bad, if Lauren hadn't used the slip up as a means to antagonize Bella and demean her intelligence. Before she had time to process Lauren's remarks, Bella's hands were shaking as her nails curled into claws, which she promptly hid in her sweater pockets.
Don't do this right now, girl. We're in a classroom full of children and you know the rules. Breathe in. Do it, breathe in. Bella took a slow breath in. That's it. You can do this. Breathe out and set your hands right. She followed her own advice and ignored everything happening around her from that point on. Better to just not engage, probably.
Bella got through the next couple of hours, however, lunch presented a new set of problems.
You can't just sit alone this week. You should apologize to Jessica, she reminded herself. Maybe tell her...OOH, tell her it's your time of the month. I mean, she'll get it in a way that makes sense to her and you wouldn't actually be lying, right?
It wasn't a bad idea. Bella walked slowly over to where Jessica and Angela were sitting and waited nervously for them to notice her.
"Hey, Jess," Bella said to open the conversation when the other girl didn't look up.
"Oh, are you talking to me now?" the girl asked, sounding angry as well as hurt.
"I, well, yes- I'm so sorry I snapped at you earlier. I know it's not a good excuse or anything, but I'm a little hormonal right now and I'm just so annoyed by every little thing," she explained guiltily.
Jessica raised her eyebrows in realization and responded with an "Oh!" before making a motion that Bella should sit. "That makes a lot more sense actually. I thought you were annoyed that I was talking about the Cullens which didn't make any sense, considering how much we talked about them last week."
Bella blushed deeply as the girl's words reached the Cullen table off in the distance behind her. Awesome, thanks, Jess. "You make it sound like we have nothing better to talk about," she covered with a laugh.
"Well, do we? I mean, this is Forks. Edward being back is the biggest bit of news we've had in a while."
"I don't know, maybe missing people should rate higher on your list of news."
Jessica looked at Bella with narrowed eyes, causing the girl to backtrack slightly.
"Sorry, irritable again. I'm just tired of hearing about Edward Cullen," Bella rolled her eyes for emphasis. "He actually kind of rubbed me the wrong way on my first day. Then he acted like nothing happened. I don't like being made to feel uncomfortable, then have it covered with pleasantries about the weather, I guess."
Even from across the cafeteria, Bella could hear a snort from the largest Cullen. She risked a glance and saw Edward staring straight at her in anger. Whatever. Dick.
She easily broke free from his gaze and moved on to Rosalie, who was smirking at Emmett, sharing in his amusement. Next, her eyes slid to Alice who appeared to be saying something to Edward. Last, but not least, she studied Jasper who was, for once, not staring at her, but at Edward, his mouth set into a grim line.
He looks so mad. I wonder what is being said at their table.
She shrugged it off and worked on the sandwich and carrot sticks she had packed. "So, not to just change the subject, but I was wondering if you two ever go down to the beach on the Quileute reservation. An old friend invited me to a bonfire on Saturday and said that anyone that wants to come can join in. I was thinking I'd get stuff for s'mores Friday night and maybe we can get a group to pitch in for hotdogs and buns or something?"
"That sounds like fun!" Jessica bubbled excitedly. "I definitely want to go to Port Angeles sometime but my mom was freaking out about the missing people, actually," she admitted with a frown. "We would have needed parental supervision, I was told, so this seems like a better option. Angela?"
"Oh, I'm in," the raven-haired girl answered quickly. "Who were you thinking of inviting?"
"That's easy. Anyone but Lauren," Jessica snorted through a mouthful of apple. Earning a questioning eyebrow quirk from Angela, she added, "Aside from the obvious, I heard from Tyler she was giving Bella a hard time today."
"She is not the most pleasant of people," Bella sniffed politely, reigning in her annoyance with the offender. "I would rather have the 30 miles of space between myself and her if that's fine with you two."
"I'm not so sure she's even friends with us anymore. We kind of took a big stand, sitting with you after last week. So, no, Lauren isn't invited," Angela decided.
"Probably no Tyler then, either," Jessica added. "He would definitely try to bring Lauren. He's into her," she explained for Bella's benefit.
"Maybe Eric," Angela suggested slowly with a slight blush. "Oh, and Mike, I know you get along with them, too, Jess," she finished with a conspiratorial wink.
Why do I get the feeling there's more that she isn't saying?
Jessica rolled her eyes, "Nice cover there, Ang. Yeah, we should invite those two."
"Just us five, then?" Bella asked to recap and spare Angela any further embarrassment for her crush.
"Unless you wanted to ask your favorite Cullen?"
"I am not going to ask Jasper to a bonfire! I hardly know him," Bella protested quickly with an involuntary glance to their table, confirming that he was watching the scene unfold.
"Um, Bella. I was making a sarcastic joke about inviting Edward, who is your least favorite. Is there something you need to share with the class?" Jessica and Angela leaned in simultaneously, clearly waiting for Bella to dish.
"Oh, my god. You two are impossible," Bella deflected before munching her last carrot stick. "Anyway, I wanted to read before class so I'm going to head out now. We should pool our resources Friday after school and go shopping for the bonfire. See you guys later," she finished without giving them a chance to interrogate her further.
"Sure, Bella. But you can't run forever! We'll have to talk about your attraction to Jasper at some point," Jessica answered her in a singsong voice.
Bella groaned internally, though, it wasn't like Jasper didn't know what she thought. Just last week, she had called him delectable, and with that hearing of theirs, none of the Cullens could have missed it. Talking about her physical attraction was one thing, but sharing about the friendship that was budding between the two of them, wasn't something she could tell either of them about.
"Hey, guys, so once a month for about a week around the full moon I can become any animal and run around in the wilderness! Did I mention Jasper isn't human either and we've been bonding by rough housing? And even better, he doesn't know it's me!"
There's no way that conversation could go wrong! Bella imagined with sarcasm. No, Jasper and I will definitely need to be kept our own little secret for a while.
Bella was on auto pilot as she emptied her garbage, stored her lunchbox in her locker and sat in the hallway outside of her next class to read. Tonight can't come fast enough.
Six classes down, one remaining, Bella reminded herself as inched her way down the crowded hall to Biology. Rounding the corner, she came to a dead stop. Standing to the right of the door was a very frustrated looking Jasper and a petulant looking Edward. Stepping back slightly, she stood leaning next to the corner facing away from the duo, and pretended to rifle through her bag. She didn't have to get any closer, as her shifter hearing was at its peak, being as the night would bring the full moon herself.
"...think you should really consider backing off or leaving entirely. If you can't get it together and control yourself, I will end you," Jasper's low voice warned Edward.
"What makes you think you have the right to be so defensive about this? She's my singer" the copper-haired boy goaded with a dark smirk.
"Don't test me, Fuckward," Jasper growled back. "You might have everyone else fooled, but you know that I know better. I know you're lying and I will do everything in my power to make sure whatever twisted plan you have cooked up doesn't come to fruition."
Edward wore a mock innocent expression when he answered Jasper. "Oh, I'm sure that I have no idea what you mean, brother! All I want is to be happy here in this wonderful little town."
Jasper's eyes narrowed, "Fine, if you want to play it this way, so be it, but watch your back and leave her out of it." With that, the blonde boy turned left and headed to his own classroom, shoving Edward into the Biology classroom as he went.
Bella stood in the hallway, not sure if she should go to class or ditch. She needed to process what she had just witnessed but she also needed to not get detention and skipping class would certainly merit punishable action.
Deciding that going to Biology and letting Mr. Murdoch know she wasn't feeling well and would be in the bathroom for a while would be a nice compromise. Bella set her bag down without bothering to look at her table-partner and headed to the front of the room to acquire a bathroom pass.
Two minutes later, she was in the bathroom with a pass and leaning against a wall, eyes closed as she went over what she had heard.
Firstly, Jasper truly is a wordsmith, crafting a nickname like Fuckward, Bella thought with an evil grin. On a serious note, though, who exactly were they talking about? She frowned, taking her time to analyze the conversation. They know some kind of singing woman and are fighting over her? Bella's jealousy spiked, cementing her earlier realization that she was feeling territorial over Jasper.
All in all, the conversation had felt more unsettling than the words themselves had sounded. The underlying emotional current had been formed by Jasper's need to protect the singer and Edward's clearly apparent need to dominate whatever the situation was. Bella sighed in frustration, wishing she had some context, or some verbal clue that would help her understand. She went over the incident in her head one more time; there's nothing helpful.
Bella poked her head out of the bathroom to peek at the decades-old analog clock mounted on the wall in the hall. She had another 30 minutes until she would be done for the day. Sighing, she washed her hands and splashed water on her face to revitalize herself, and headed back to class.
She silently took her seat next to Edward and allowed her waves of dark hair to separate them as she had the week previously, hoping he'd take the hint and not speak to her. Luckily, it was a movie day in class and she was spared until the last 5 minutes or so.
"Not feeling well?" Edward asked softly after the lights had been turned back on and the class erupted into conversations of their own.
Annoyed, she answered only somewhat sarcastically, "No, I just wanted to hang out in the bathroom."
Edward raised his eyebrows in response but didn't look away. "My apologies," he sneered, not seeming sorry at all. "I didn't mean to pry."
Yes, you did.
Bella said nothing and grabbed her backpack so she could leave the class as soon as it finished.
"A little on edge, are we?" the boy asked her snidely.
"I just want to get home. I have things to do," Bella responded, annoyance seeping into her tone.
"I see," was his only reply.
The final bell rang, just as Edward said, "Hang on a sec, would you?"
Bella was already out of her seat, however, and dashing for the door. Pretending she hadn't heard him at all, she made her way outside. Cutting across the common space diagonally instead of sticking to the sidewalk, she managed to put a decent amount of distance between herself and school. Despite her speed allowing her to bypass the sudden crowding of students in the hall, Edward managed to catch up to her and had successfully backed her into a corner of sorts.
"Hey, didn't you hear me? I asked you to wait," he very nearly snarled at her.
The animal inside of her roared, rising to the challenge immediately, instead of allowing her to answer calmly. "Oh, I heard you. I'm just not interested in anything you have to say."
In an instant, Edward's eyes had darkened in rage, his face contorting into an angry grimace. "What is your problem, Bella?"
"You are," she snapped angrily. "Your inability to take a hint makes it clear that you're used to getting your way with people, but I'm not like that. I want you to leave me alone and quit staring at me all the time. It's exceptionally rude."
Laughing darkly, he stepped closer, invading her space further, causing the girl to shake with rage. "You're the exceptionally rude one," he retorted.
"You need to back the fuck off," she whispered darkly, not willing to take a step back herself.
"Or what?" he mocked her with a twisted grin.
"I'll make you," Bella hissed in reply as she felt the animal coming to the surface.
"Is there a problem over here?" came a clear voice behind her.
Jasper. Thank fuck.
"Someone can't take a hint," Bella answered while Edward simultaneously replied, "Mind your own business, Monster."
"Yeah, I don't think so, Edward," Jasper laughed. "Hey, Em, why don't you escort our little bro to the car."
"My pleasure," came the rumbling response.
Edward growled in anger as Emmett approached him. "Don't fucking touch me."
"Just walk to the car, then, Eddieboy," Emmett directed with a smile dazzling any bystanders. "I'd hate to embarrass you in front of our classmates, after all." It was very clearly a reminder that they were in a public space. Edward growled in response but walked in front of Emmett willingly a moment later.
Jasper turned to Bella as the duo walked away, but froze as he took in her face. "Bella, are you okay? Your eyes look," he was cut off from explaining whatever her eyes had looked like, by the sound of screeching tires on slick pavement. A moment later, there was a loud crash, the sound of crunching metal and breaking glass filled the air. The commotion was followed by the screams of students that had lingered outside and witnessed the accident.
Swerving to avoid a rather obstinate looking Edward Cullen, Tyler Crowley had crashed into Bella's pickup truck. Eyes filling with tears, Bella ran towards the wreck with the other students. She rounded to the other side of the boy's van to check on Tyler. In the distance from where she came, she could see Jasper, Rosalie, and Alice staring in horror at something over her shoulder.
Bella spun around in time to see Emmett dragging a crazed looking, jaw snapping, Edward to his Jeep. She glanced back to where Jasper and his sisters had been standing, and found the area emptied of all people. Turning back to Emmett, she saw Rosalie and Alice piling into Rosalie's car while Jasper hopped behind the wheel of the Jeep. Emmett was seated behind Edward, leaning over the seat to hold the snarling boy in. Both cars peeled out of the parking lot a moment later and had disappeared in the distance by the time teachers arrived on the scene.
Shaking, Bella stared at her truck and then back at Tyler. Blood was pouring down the boy's face in rivulets. Leaning weakly against her truck, Bella couldn't help but assess the damage to the driver's side and realized that her injuries would have been very serious, even fatal, if she had been in it.
Charlie had arrived on the scene and immediately panicked until he heard Bella shouting over the other students. After calling to have her truck towed, he drove his daughter home and reiterated the dangers of not paying attention to the road, even though it wasn't Bella that had been in an accident.
"Yeah, dad, I know."
"I mean, what was Tyler thinking?" her father asked angrily. "He could have seriously hurt someone. He could have hurt you, Bella!"
"Dad, I don't think it was his fault and he didn't even hurt me. I promise, I'm okay, I was over on the sidewalk when it happened."
"I know, Bells. It just scared me, seeing your truck like that and knowing you could have been inside," he explained, voice thick with emotion. He cleared his throat, "Speaking of your truck, the tow should be bringing it by in a few hours. We're going to have to call around for mechanic, someone that does extensive body-work like that for a reasonable rate. Until then, you'll have to be dropped off by me." He caught the grimace on her face as the two exited the car and headed for the front door. "Sorry, kiddo."
"It's okay, I mean I appreciate you being able to take me to school. It's just, you know. Nothing says grand entrance like arriving in a police cruiser," Bella finished with a laugh. "Anyways, are you home for the night now?"
"I need to wrap up some paperwork about the incident and follow up with Tyler at the hospital, actually. Will you be okay here?"
"Oh my god, dad, I'll be fine! Just go finish up and I'll have dinner ready when you get home. How does baked mac and cheese sound?"
"Like heaven," Charlie beamed excitedly. "I was hoping that would be on the menu when I saw you had gotten extra sharp white cheddar!"
"The sharper the better!" Bella agreed. "Alright, drive safe and I'll see you later, dad."
Thanks to the combination of his early morning and the cheesy-carby goodness that was currently digesting, Charlie went to bed at around 8 that evening, leaving Bella time to do her preparations. She laid back on the living room floor, having finished her warm up routine, and thought about Jasper Hale.
What had he been going to say? Did I just look worried? Or was there something more? Did he...recognize me? The questions swirled madly around Bella's brain, the pressure to shift and meet him increasing as each moment passed. It would be risky with Charlie having just laid down, but she needed to shift.
Lost in her own thoughts, the sound of a deep snore from upstairs startled Bella, causing her to jump lightly and scan her surroundings for a threat. At the sound of a cough, followed by the groaning of Charlie's mattress, Bella determined her father was sleeping deeply enough.
She checked the lock on the front door and turned out the lights downstairs before, leaping soundlessly, she took the stairs to her bedroom two at a time. Shutting and locking her bedroom door, Bella proceeded to strip in record time and shifted into a sparrow before she remembered to prop her window open. She giggled quietly at her own excitement after she transformed back and set her book under the open frame.
Shaking with giddy energy, she stepped away from the window, so as not to draw any attention or be seen, shifted once more and flew out. Barely clearing the edge of the woods, she swooped to the forest floor and took on her mountain lion form.
Letting her excitement drive her, she darted through the trees along the now familiar trail that ended in what she had come to consider their meadow. In a matter of minutes, record time thanks to her burst of speed, the mountain lion burst through the treeline and perched herself on the rock slab that slightly overhung the rest of the meadow to wait for her Jasper. She sat in absolute stillness, noting only the sound of scattering animals, most likely deer, about a mile away to the left and back through the trees.
A slight rustling of branches and leaves alerted her to his arrival and Bella gleefully turned to face the sound. The sight that met her eyes, however, had her recoiling nervously. A dark copper head of hair emerged from the woods as the thin, lanky body of Edward Cullen broke through the edge of the forest. Bella's lips curled back to display her teeth as an instinctive snarl ripped its way out of her mouth.
A/N: I know, I'm wicked! I would say I'm sorry for the cliffhanger, but I'm not.
Also, if you hadn't noticed, we've been dabbling in AU territory for a while and it's only going to spiral from here. If it isn't your cuppa, you can turn back now, I won't stop you!
AND THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEWS. They really and truly help me feel Jazzed (see what I did there?) about continuing this project!