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Chapter 5: Better and Worse 2nd Day

(Natalie's POV)

I followed the two boys with my eyes as they left the front office. I looked back at Bella and could see the devastation in her expression. I was immediately concerned.

What could have possibly happened in the last 5 minutes to piss him off so rigorously? And what was up with Jasper's reaction? His eyes, which had been a beautiful deep golden as we stopped off at our lockers, had now become a threatening dark inky black.It was almost as if his pupils had completely swallowed up his irises.

Maybe it was a trick of the light?

I internally snorted. That would be an easier sell if it wasn't for the way he had immediately yoked Edward up by the back of his neck and practically launched him through the office door. Edward's eyes had been just as dark and menacing, not to mention the way he'd looked at Bella with such hate and malice. I knew my sister just as well as I knew myself, she was like an extension of me. We were twins with a very strong familial bond, despite not having been born identical, and I knew that Bella didn't have it in her to purposefully rile someone up the way Edward had been.

So what was his deal?

The fear that reflected back at me from her brown eyes was enough to make me seriously worry. So I made the decision then and there, that I would get to the bottom of this; I would not have my sister come to school in fear.

"Come on, Bella. Let's go." I gently placed a comforting hand on her back and guided her to the front desk, motivating Bella to snap out of whatever type of emotional stupor Edward had caused her to slip into.

I placed my completed attendance sheet onto the counter in front of Mrs. Cope, who smiled and thanked me as before Bella did the same.

"So, how did your first day go?" The red haired woman asked maternally as she signed the bottom of each of our slips.

"Fine," Bella lied in a weak voice. I nodded in agreement, though the woman - Mrs. Cope - didn't look convinced.

We made it out to the truck in silence, and, when we arrived, I noticed that it was the last car in the lot.

We climbed into the cab and just sat there in silence for a while, staring blankly out the front windshield. What had happened with Edward was bothering her, but I knew she didn't want to talk about it right then. Instead, I reached over and took her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze to remind her that I was here whenever she was ready. She gave me an appreciative smile and gripped my hand tightly in grateful acknowledgement. However, it soon became too cold inside the cab, so Bella turned the key, allowing the engine to roar to life.

We drove back to the house in continued silence until I felt a stabbing pain materialize out of nowhere in my head. I winced out loud and reached up with my hands to clutch at my skull.

"Natty? What's wrong? Is your head bothering you again?" Bella asked in distress, constantly turning to look back and forth between me and the road. I nodded, closing my eyes as I attempted to massage out the pain.I could handle this; it was no where as bad as some of the other ones I've had as of late.

They had started up a few months ago. I would get these occasional headaches, along with bouts of nausea and dizziness, but I never thought much of it. I would just pop some Ibuprofen or Excedrin and move on with my day. However, recently, they've seemed to be getting progressively worse and coming more frequently, along with occasional vomiting. These episodes seemed to drain me and I would get exhausted easily. I had seen a doctor before I'd left Phoenix, but they weren't sure what to make of it either. They wrote me out some medicine for nausea, as well as prescription painkillers, all of which seemed to help for the most part, but we'd moved before any real testing could be done.

"You should go see another doctor, do you want me to take you to the E.R.?" Bella suggested, only for me to shake my head in objection.

"No, no, I'll be fine in a few minutes," I insisted, reaching into a flap on the side of my book bag and grabbing the bottle of painkillers I kept on me. I popped the top and shook one of the little round pills into my hand before twisting on the lid and tossing it back with a mouth full of water that I had bought during lunch.

Bella frowned as she kept glancing over at me. "Are you sure? Because you're really starting to worry me with these headaches, Nat, and it would kill me if something were to ever happen to you."

I knew she was right, that I needed to get help sooner rather than later. But at the same time, I was afraid; afraid of what could find, afraid of what could say, and afraid of what it could mean for my family and I if something was seriously wrong.

"I'll find a local doctor, okay? Just not today – soon though."

"Promise?" Bella insisted, releasing one of her hands from the steering wheel and holding out her pinky, just like we had done ever since we were five. It was our version of an unbreakable vow.

I looped my pinky through hers and squeezed it tightly, "I promise."

The rest of the ride continued on in silence, and I could see it plain as day that Bella was still thinking about what had transpired with Edward Cullen. I reached over and took her hand again. She didn't say a word or acknowledge the gesture, only continued with the drive back to Charlie's, fighting back her tears the rest of the way there.

The next day was better… and worse.

It was better, because it wasn't raining yet, though the clouds were dense and opaque. It was also easier, because I knew what to expect of my day.

Mike came to sit by Bella and I in English, and then walked us both to our next classes with Chess Club Eric glaring at him all the while - that was nattering. People didn't look at us quite as much as they had the day before, and I had greatly enjoyed Jasper's company during my second and third period AP classes. He was already at the school when Bella and I arrived, so I didn't get to see him until then.

Jasper smiled at me when I entered the classroom, never taking his eyes off of my as I passed by the rows of students to the desk next to his.

"Hello," he greeted me as I dropped my bag next to my seat and slid in behind the desk. I immediately noticed his eyes were once again a brilliant gold.

Hm. Maybe it really was just all in my head.

"Hello yourself," I grinned, turning in my seat to face him. I could feel the pressure in my chest that had been growing since last night immediately dissipate, and I frowned.

What was that?

Mr. Garner called the class to attention before I had time to mentally question it further. We were assigned a project and paired up to work together. It took all of my concentration to focus, as any time he would look at me or smile in a certain way, I would get slightly dazed and butterflies would come to life in my stomach. He also effected my olfactory senses; he smelled of honey, hay, and sunshine which completely calmed and centered my frazzled emotions. Needless to say, I didn't get much accomplished on my end of the project, and was somewhat startled when the bell rang to signal the end of the class. Time seemed to have flown by in the space of what only felt to be 10 minutes.

Jasper walked me to and from each of the classes we had together, making small talk and getting to know each other during the few minutes we had between lessons.I discovered that he was a history buff, but his favorite era was the Civil War. He had lived in Texas the first 8 years of his life along with his twin sister, Rosalie. They were then taken in by his Aunt Esme and Uncle Carlisle, who'd became the twins' adoptive parents. It was obvious that he was very close to his family and that he loved them all very much. It was in the way he spoke of them; he clearly idolized his uncle, and doted on his aunt as though they had saved him somehow.

I also learned that Jasper was remarkably skilled at reading people, especially myself. He was extremely empathic and intensely charismatic, so much so, it was like he could somehow sense exactly what I was feeling during any given time. It was kind of bizarre, almost like having some sort of super power, and my suspicions only seemed to grow as time wore on.

I had a gut feeling that he was hiding something, and I was about 90% positive that his family was in on it too. He would become very vague when answering certain questions pertaining to any of them, then would manipulate the conversation towards what he must have deemed 'safer topics'. This obviously meant that we hadn't addressed his eccentric and hasty exit from the school's office yesterday, and - at this rate - we never were going to.

Today has been worse than yesterday, because I was extremely tired. In addition to all that's been on my mind, I hadn't gotten much sleep last night with the wind echoing around the house. I had finally ended up crawling into Bella's bed with her around 2AM, trying to avoid the sound of the tree branches slapping away against my window. I had been so out of it during Trig that when Mr. Varner called on me, I made a fool out of myself by asking him to repeat the question before I could give him an answer.

Finally, lunch time had arrived. Bella and I were both ushered in to sit with a big group that included Mike, Eric, Jessica, Angela and several other people whose names and faces I could now remember. I began to feel like I was finally treading water instead of drowning in it.

I had been anxious about lunch today, which was when I'd planned to question Edward Cullen about went on between him and my sister yesterday. I had managed to finally pry the information out of Bella last night while we were working on our English homework. However, when I walked in the canteen with Jessica and Bella, I saw that Edward's four siblings of sorts were all sitting together at the same table as yesterday, only he was not with them.

Somehow, Jasper once again sensed my arrival, and looked up to give me a small smile, which I returned. It was then that Mike had intercepted the three of us and steered us towards his table. Jessica seemed to be elated by the attention, and her friends quickly came to join us once we sat down.

I tried to listen to their easy chatter, but I found that I had trouble keeping up. I was terribly fidgety, waiting for the moment when the last Cullen would arrive at the table. Bella was acting the same way, though I could imagine that it was for a different reason entirely.

When Edward still hadn't shown up after fifteen minutes, I'd decided that today just wasn't going to be the day, and I relaxed. Bella, however, just seemed to get more and more tense as the lunch period droned on.

During gym, I had a hard time trying to watch out for my sister, who was absolutely miserable. We had to play volleyball and, the one time that she didn't cringe out of the way of the ball, she hit me in the head with it, causing a small headache to arise.

By the time the school day had subsequently finished, the pain had finally subsided somewhat, and I changed back into my jeans and navy blue sweater. Bella and I hurried out of the girls locker room, pleased to find that we had successfully evaded Mike, who had taken to following us around like a golden retriever all day.

Jasper was waiting for me outside of the gymnasium, kindly acknowledging Bella before asking politely if he could walk me to my locker

Bella gave me a look of curiosity before falling back into line with Jessica and Angela, who had also just run into each other.

"So, how was your second day at Forks High?" Jasper asked me as we began to walk together, striking up an easy conversation.

"It was better than the first." I shrugged. "I know where I'm going now, and I know most of the names of the people I'd met yesterday."

He gave me a small smile. "I'm glad to hear that."

Right then, I was once again reminded of the cold treatment his brother had given my sister on our first day, not to mention his strange absence today. I finally had my opening and I wouldn't let him side-step the issue this time.

"So, I noticed your brother was missing today," I casually mentioned.

He cleared his throat unnecessarily and looked past me across the courtyard to where the rest of his siblings had been gathered one of the picnic tables. It was probably just my imagination running amuck due to me being so overtired, but I could have sworn I saw Alice discretely look over her shoulder at us, as though she could actually hear what we were talking about and was telling him what to say. But that was impossible, right? I mean, we were way too far away for them to have actually heard us, or he them.

"Uh, yeah, he went up to Alaska to stay with some extended family for a while," he answered, clearly uncomfortable with this line of questioning. I couldn't understand why though, it was a completely innocent topic.

"Was there a reason why he went?" I pushed trying to remain as nonchalant as I could. Inside, my mind was working a mile a minute digesting his answers.

Jasper looked down at the sidewalk in front of us as we neared the English building which housed our lockers.

"It was for personal reasons." He answered, reaching forward to open the door for me to enter before him.

"Did he say when he'd be back?" I asked, spinning around so I could see in his face what looked to be suspicion, curiosity and, dare I say it, jealousy?

"No. Why the interest in my brother?" He asked quickly with what sounded like an animalistic growl.

Seriously? Since when do people growl?

We had just made it to my locker at this point, and I twisted around to lean up against it.

"Well, for one, he really upset Bella yesterday. I wanted to talk to him to find out what his problem was."

He looked down at me in surprised relief, and then his lips quirked up into an understanding smirk. "Ah, I get it now. You're subsidizing your sister."

I rolled my eyes, turning my back on him, and began to open up my locker. "Of course I am! He was a complete and utter ass towards her, and there was no excuse for it!" I threw my books into my bag and slammed the locker door shut.

"Yeah… Edward was having an off day yesterday," he rationalized, but I wasn't buying it. I think he could tell, so he tried to change his tactics. "You're right though, there's no excuse for how he had acted, and I'm sure that he plans to apologize as soon as he gets back."

I knew he was just saying it to placate me, but I'd resolved to let it go for now, not wanting to waste our last couple minutes together squabbling about our siblings.Nevertheless, my sister is very important to me and I am determined to look out for her.

"I hope you're right," I smiled at him teasingly, "I would hate to ruin our friendship because I broke your brother's nose."

He laughed outright at that, and I stared at him in awe. The sound of his laughter was musical and sent goosebumps up my arms. I decided right then and there that I would make it my mission to make him laugh as much as possible, if only so I could hear the beautiful symphony again.

Jasper took a step closer to lean his shoulder up against the long row of lockers, and I shifted my body to mimick his position.

"Speaking of our friendship, there is something that I've been meaning to ask..."

My heart sped up as I stared into his golden eyes.

"I was wondering," he began again, "Would you want to do something together - with me - on Saturday night?"

"Yeah, sure," I answered before he had a chance to change his mind or take it back. I blushed at my obvious eagerness.

"Really?" He asked. His beautiful amber eyes were lit up with happiness, and it was like I could literally feel the joy, relief and excitement pouring off of him and onto me - though I knew that was impossible. "I mean, with you being new in town, you probably don't know too many people, and I know that there really isn't nearly as much to do here like there is in Arizona, but I thought I could show you some of the more enjoyable aspects of living in Forks - even if it is the rainy capital of the U.S."

"I'd really like that," I admitted with a light laugh. Getting out of the house Saturday did sound appealing, especially if it was with Jasper. I was really enjoying getting to know him. He was kind, charismatic, smart and extremely attractive. I had never gotten along so well with someone who I'd just met before, and I was curious to see how things would go.

"That's great, I'm looking forward to it," he continued to grin, straightening his stance as we began to walk away from our lockers.

"Me too."

I smiled to myself as Jasper walked me outside and across the parking lot to my truck. Bella was already waiting patiently inside of the cab. He bent down at the same time that I reached for him, wrapping my arms around his neck in a goodbye hug, and buried my face in his chest.

My God, he smelled amazing...

Stepping back out of his arms was more difficult than it should have been, and he gifted me with one more of his handsome lop-sided grins before he quickly turned and walked away. Try as I might, I couldn't wipe the silly smile off of my face as I watched him make his way back to the other side of the parking lot. Then, just like in the movies, he turned to look back over his shoulder at me one last time, and I internally swooned.

So much better than in the movies...

I shook myself out of it, reminding myself that it was not a date, and opened the door to the driver's side and climbed in the cab. Bella was looking at me in shock and didn't even wait for me to shut the door before she started grilling me for answers.

"What was that?" She asked, giving me a knowing look from the passenger seat where she sat.

I bit my bottom lip, trying to rid myself of the silly smile that wouldn't seem to go away. "Nothing, just saying goodbye."

She gave me a dubious look, clearly not buying it or my nonchalance.

"You like him." It wasn't a question.

"I barely know him," I reminded her.

Of course I liked Jasper. I was only worried about just how much. We had only recently met, and, already, it was like he controlled my every thought. However, after what happened with Paul, I wasn't sure how comfortable I was with giving any guy that much power over me. My heart and my mind were at war with one another.

"He actually asked me to do something with him on Saturday," I told her, unable to help the giddiness I felt at saying it out loud. "I said yes."

Bella's eyebrows rose nearly all the way to her hairline, and then a small smile began to appear on her lips. "Wow," she gushed. "I can see why you agreed. He is very nice looking."'

I tried to hide my grin as I started the engine, "It's not a date. We are just hanging out as friends."

She gave me a look that told me she didn't quite believe me, but didn't press the issue.

"So, where are you guys going?" She questioned curiously.

"I'm not sure," I admitted, looking over my shoulder as I backed out of our parking space. "He said he wanted to show me the better things about living in Forks; I'm pretty curious myself, actually."

"He seems like a nice guy."

I briefly looked over at her as I continued driving out of the school grounds and on to the main road. She seemed thoughtful as she gnawed on the inside of her cheek

"Yeah, he is," I responded.

I saw her smile from the corner of my eye as I drove, but she didn't question me more on the subject.

Bella knew me almost as well as I knew myself. Due to our strong sisterly bond, she could just as easily read me like a book, just like I could interpret her moods. A good amount of the time, words weren't even necessary. We just knew what the other was thinking or feeling.

"So, what do you want to do for dinner tonight?" I asked, changing the subject.

She shrugged, "We could do steak and potatoes?"

I agreed as my stomach let loose a growl of hunger.

Last night, Bella and I discovered that Charlie couldn't cook much besides fried eggs and bacon. So we requested that we be assigned to kitchen detail for the duration of our stay. He was willing enough to hand over the keys to the banquet hall. We also found out that there was no food in the house. So, we had our shopping list and the cash from the jar in the cupboard labeled 'Food Money,' and we were on our way to the Thriftway.

The store was not far from the school, just a few streets south off the highway. It was nice to be inside the supermarket together as we shopped; it felt normal. We did the shopping at home in Phoenix too, and fell into the pattern of the familiar task gladly. The store was big enough on the inside that I couldn't hear the tapping of rain on the roof to remind me where I was.

When we got home, we unloaded all the groceries, stuffing them in wherever we could find an open space. I hoped that Charlie wouldn't mind. Bella wrapped some potatoes in foil and stuck them in the oven to bake while I covered three NY strip steaks in marinade and balanced the plate on top of a carton of eggs in the fridge.

When we were finished with that, we took our book bags upstairs to our rooms.

Before starting on my homework, I changed into a dry pair of sweat pants with a pink tank top, then pulled my hair out of the damp pony tail I had it in and put it up in a large messy bun on top of my head. I then jumped onto my laptop and checked my email for the first time since I left Phoenix.

I had four messages.

Monday, January 17, 2005

Nat, my mom wrote…

Write me as soon as you get in. Tell me how your flight was. Is it raining? How is Bella? Tell her that I want to hear from her too. I miss you girls already. I'm almost finished packing for Florida, but I can't find my pink blouse. Do you remember where I put it? Phil says hi to you girls.

Love, Mom

I sighed and moved on to the next. It was sent about eight hours after the first.

Tuesday January 18, 2005

Natalie, she wrote…

Why haven't either of you emailed me yet? What are you waiting for?

Love, Mom

The next was from Brian - one of the few friends I had back in Phoenix. He was quirky and fun to be around. We'd become fast friends during our freshman year. I received his email around 8:30pm last night.

Tuesday January 18, 2005

Hey Natalie, he wrote…

School sucks without you here. When are you coming back? I miss you during History. Who's going to explain everything to me now? We should definitely plan for a visit soon.

Write me back when you get this.

– Brian

The last email was from this morning – surprise, surprise, it was another one from my mother.

Wednesday January 19, 2005

Natalie Rose, she began, and I knew it wasn't good when she used my middle name.

If I haven't heard from you or your sister by 5:30pm today, I'm calling Charlie.

No 'love mom' at the end of this one.

I checked the clock. I still had an hour, but mom was well known for jumping the gun.

January 19, 2005

Mom,

Calm down. I'm writing right now. Don't do anything rash.

Always,

Natalie

I sent that and began again.

January 19, 2005

Mom,

Everything is great. Bella and I are just getting settled into a routine. Of course it's raining, what else is new? I was waiting for something to write about before I emailed you. I don't know what Bella's excuse is. School isn't bad, just a little repetitive. I met some nice kids who sit by us at lunch.

Your blouse is at the dry cleaners – you were supposed to pick it up Thursday.

Charlie bought Bella and I a truck, can you believe it? We both love it. It's old, but really sturdy, which is good, you know, for Bella. I can't wait to get my hands on the engine either. I just have to find a place where I can work on it and give it a once over.

We miss you too, mom. I'll write again soon, but I'm not going to check my email every five minutes.

Relax, breathe. I love you!

Love Always,

Natalie

I let out a sigh and I shut my laptop just as Bella walked in – I would reply to Brian's email before bed later.

"So, did you get the third degree from mom, as well?" She asked as she took a seat on my bed.

"Yeah," I answered as I spun my chair around to face her. "I got three emails, the last one was addressed to 'Natalie Rose'." She knew what that meant too. I let out another huff of exasperation before asking, "What about you?"

"Same, except it was addressed to 'Isabella Marie Swan!'. She mimicked Renee's voice and we both started to laugh at her accurate impression. "It's not like we were deliberately ignoring her emails, though."

I snorted, pulling out a binder with my homework inside and got started on the worksheets that were due tomorrow. Bella, meanwhile, opened up her Wuthering Heights novel. We were currently reviewing it in English. We had both read it several times, though Bella had developed a bit of an obsession with the book whereas it was in my top ten favorites.

We were still doing homework when Charlie arrived. We'd lost track of the time and we both hurried down the stairs to take the potatoes out and then put the steak in to broil.

"Girls?" Charlie called out when he heard us on the stairs.

Who else? I thought to myself in sarcastic amusement.

"Hey, Dad, welcome home." Bella greeted him as I smiled.

"Thanks." He hung up his gun belt and stepped out of his boots as we bustled about the kitchen. As far as I was aware, he'd never shot the gun on the job. But he still kept it ready.

When we came here as children, he would always remove the bullets as soon as he walked in the door. I guess he considered us old enough now not to shoot ourselves or each other by accident, and not depressed enough to shoot ourselves on purpose.

"What's for dinner?" he asked warily. Renee was an imaginative cook and her experiments weren't always edible. I was surprised, and sad, that he seemed to remember that far back.

"Steak and potatoes with a side salad," I answered, and he looked relieved.

He seemed to feel awkward standing in the kitchen doing nothing, so he lumbered into the living room to watch TV while we worked. We were all more comfortable that way. I chopped up ingredients for the salad while the steaks cooked, and Bella set the table.

I called him in when dinner was ready and he sniffed appreciatively as he walked into the room.

"Smells good, girls."

"Thanks." We both answered at the same time.

We ate in silence for a few minutes. It wasn't uncomfortable. None of us were bothered by the quiet. In some ways, we were well suited for living together. I never felt the need to fill the silence with mindless chatter, and I knew that the both of them felt the same way.

"So, how do you like the school? Have you two made any friends?" he asked as he was filling his plate with second helpings.

"Well, we have a few classes together and with a girl named Jessica. We sit with her and her friends at lunch. And there's this boy, Mike, who's very friendly. Everybody seems pretty nice." Bella answered, though I could think of one outstanding exception that didn't apply to that group.

"That must be Mike Newton. Nice kid – nice family. His dad owns the sporting goods store just outside of town. He makes a good living off all the backpackers who come through here." He said before turning the questions towards me. "What about you, Natty? How did you like it?"

"It's okay," I shrugged. "I made friends with a few people in my classes in addition to the people that Bella was just talking about. I also became friends with this guy, Jasper. He actually asked me to do something with him on Saturday night. You don't have any objections to me going, do you, Dad?"

He looked up at me in surprise, but seemed to recover quickly. "Jasper? Jasper who?"

"Jasper Hale," I answered. "He is one of the Cullen siblings; He was adopted with his twin sister, Rosalie, by Doctor and Mrs. Cullen."

"Do you know the Cullen family?" Bella asked him hesitantly before he had the chance to ask me anything more.

"Sure," he nodded, taking a bite off his plate. "Dr. Cullen's a great man."

"They… the kids… are a little different. They don't seem to fit in very well at school."

Charlie surprised me by looking angry.

"People in this town," he muttered. "Dr. Cullen is a brilliant surgeon who could work at any hospital in the world, make ten times the salary he gets here," he continued, getting louder. "We're lucky to have him – lucky that his wife wants to live in a small town. He's an asset to the community, and all those kids are well behaved and polite. I had my doubts when they first moved in, what with all of those adopted teenagers. I thought we might have some problems with them. But they're all very mature – I haven't had one speck of trouble from any of them. That's more than I can say for the children of some folks who've lived in this town for generations. And they stick together the way a family should – camping trips every other weekend… Just because they're newcomers, people have to talk."

Bella and I exchanged bewildered glances. It was the longest speech we'd ever heard Charlie make. He must feel strongly about whatever people were saying.

I decided it was time to add my two cents in. "They seemed nice enough to me."

"Yeah," Bella agreed. "I just noticed that they kept to themselves. I haven't seen any of them associate with anyone outside of their family, aside from when I'd seen Jasper with Natty. They're all very attractive." She added, trying to be more complimentary, but made me blush at the same time.

"You should see the doctor," Charlie said laughing. "It's a good thing that he's happily married. A lot of the nurses at the hospital have a hard time concentrating on their work with him around."

I chuckled, shaking my head as I imagined different scenarios in my mind of an attractive doctor with the many nurses fawning over him.

"So, it's okay if I hang out with Jasper on Saturday then?" I asked again.

He nodded, "It's fine with me, but you make sure he comes inside before you two take off."

I sighed, "It's not a date, Dad."

He wasn't deterred, "All the same, if you are going to be spending time at night alone with a boy, I want to meet him."

I knew I wasn't going to win this debate, and relented, "Okay, fine."

Charlie cleared the table while we started on the dishes. He then went back to the TV, and, after we finished washing the dishes by hand – me washing them while Bella dried them and put them in their respective places as there was no dishwasher - we went upstairs to unwillingly finish up the last bit of homework. I could feel the tradition in the making.

When I was finally finished, I opened my laptop once again to reply to Brian.

Wednesday, January 19, 2005

Hey B,

You know, you could always try paying attention during History, then you wouldn't need to have it explained to you a second time!

You're right; we do need to plan a visit. I am sure Charlie would love to have you over for Spring Break, or maybe for a couple weeks during the summer?

Guess what!? Charlie bought Bella and I a truck! Its an old 1963 Chevy Sidestep C-10 pick up. I've named her Gertrude.

Give your mom a hug from me.

Love,

Nat

I closed my laptop and sighed.

I missed my funny best friend from Phoenix. He was the only other person I was really close to outside of my family and his mom was a long time friend of Renee's. Brian's dad had a job in the military, so he was never really around that often.

Crossing the room, I picked out a pair of pajamas and took them with me into the bathroom for a quick shower and then brushed my teeth. I could hear Bella getting ready to do the same and quickly vacated the room to give her some space and slipped into bed.

That night, it was finally quiet. I fell asleep quickly, exhausted.

A/N: So, what do we think of the revised chapter 4? I am really happy with ho*Notew this Rewrite is coming along. Their thoughts and reactions seem much more realistic to me now then they were in the previous version (still posted)

If you have any questions, suggestions or comments, write them in my reviews and I will respond at the bottom of the next chapter in the Author's

meliducrougmailcom: Oh dear ! being an unconditional fan of the jasper / oc you can't even imagine how f I am to see that you started rewriting ! I love natalie's character ! this rewriting is really good we can see the evolution of your writing! I I 9o tell you that two things are continuous ! don't stop writing ! I really want to know the rest ! and secondly congratulations on this hit success! looking forward to the next chapter we regular readers look forward to the next chapters! Méli.

Bella'Xo: Thank you so much! I love reading comments like yours I already have a detailed plot written up for the whole story, as well as notes for the Sequel. Keep reading and let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, just post a review and I will reply like so!

10 Apphia : Yay! Your back. I enjoy your Jasper/OFC stories. While I'm a little upset I won't get an update about the cliffhanger the old version left at, I am glad to see your continuing this story. I eagerly await a new update.

Bella'Xo: Thanks hun! I'm sorry for the cliffhanger in the original story, but I am still following the same plot for the most part for this rewrite, along with some extra scenes added. Stay tuned!

Chipmunk1123 : Oh my goodness! It's been a long time since I've read fanfic (last I read fanfic was around 9th or 10th grade of high school and I'm a rising senior in college, class of 2021). Tbh I was hesitant to start reading fanfic again, I got the email notification about this lovely work of art, but I gave in and now addicted again lol. I completely forgot how great this story is and you are doing an awesome job rewriting! I can't wait for more to come! You are doing amazing!

Bella'Xo: Thank you so much for your kind words! I am so glad u are enjoying my story! Hope u enjoyed this last chapter!

Anariel Phoenix Blade : Hey great redo. Will you be having Natalie with the physical shield and Bella with the mental shield still? And will they be able to access each other's shields thru the twin connection? Please be safe with COVID 19. And please update more soon..

Bella'Xo: Thank you! I don't want to give away any spoilers for those who are reading this for the first time, but I will say that I am sticking as close to the original story points as possible- but maybe with some additions Bella and Natalie will have something special due to them being twins. Also thanks for your concern during this scary time. In my area, there is a mask order in place and we are taking every precaution. Hope you are doing well too.