The bell rings signaling the end of the school day. Noah carefully packs his bag as his other classmates leave to the buses with their Paras. The special education teacher looks up as she's about to leave and notices Noah still there. Jasper is usually there by now to pick him up. "Noah? Do you need me to wait here with you? Where's Jasper?"
"No it's alright Ms. Gray Jasper will be here."
"Alright then, have a good weekend Noah." Ms. Gray says as she leaves. Noah then looses interest in the conversation and starts humming and mumbling to himself. He's there for a few minutes when a group of boys appear in the hallway.
They stop and stare at him for a while, mocking him and his mannerisms.
"Hey Cullen! What are you doing over here by yourself?" A boy sneers at Noah.
Noah continues to ignore the teens and this infuriates them more. They step in closer around him, "Hey retard! I'm talking to you."
"He can't understand you James, he's riding the short bus remember!" The boys laugh and start tugging on Noah's backpack and lunch box. Noah is clearly uncomfortable and someone comes to his rescue.
Bella is standing in front of him a nervous, but determined look on her face. "Hey, leave him alone."
"Why? What are you going to do to stop us?" One boy asks.
"She doesn't have to do anything, I will." Jasper glares at the group of boys. He had just come down the hallway to see the group bothering his boy and a new girl standing up to them. His teacher had held him back and that made him late to pick up Noah.
The boys are intimidated by Jasper but try not to show it. They scoff and head out to the parking lot. Jasper immediately turns to Noah and checks on him. "Are you okay? I'm sorry I wasn't here." He strokes Noah's cheek.
"It's okay Jaz, it was going to happen, and now I can talk to Bella." Noah smiles turning to face Bella still wrapped in Jasper's arms.
"What?" Bella asks confused
"Thank you for sticking up for me Bella, this will be a wonderful start to our friendship." Noah giggles and bounces.
"I mean it's no problem, I wasn't really effective, Jasper really scared them off." Bella says flustered.
"I would like to offer my thanks as well, effective or not you intervened where others would have walked away. If Noah says he'd like to be friends with you then you have my friendship too." Jasper nods to her.
Bella awkwardly laughs before she opens and closes her mouth in an attempt to ask a question.
"Don't worry Eddie will be back on Monday, our cousins in Alaska had a family emergency."
"How did... um why is Edward the only one who went then?" Bella stammers.
"They're technically only Edward's cousins even if we're part of the family by adoption." Jasper answers. Bella nods and waves while Noah jumps and spins away with Jasper following behind.