Bella POV

I woke to my alarm blaring. I rolled over and slammed my hand down on it, stopping the sound and slightly cracking the years old clock. I groaned as I tried to make myself get up and ready for school. I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling for another five minutes, before I finally made myself get ready.

I had finished showering and getting dressed when I got a text from Shanna, I pulled out my phone and read it.

You'll get to talk to dreamboat today:p Should we make a mission plan beforehand or do you want to wing it?

I grinned at the message.

Bit of both? I'm a little nervous.

After a few moments my phone buzzed again, Ok Captain. We'll talk in first period. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to charm the pants off of a certain vamp;) delete this message as soon as you receive it;)

I grinned and deleted the message. I finished my toast and coffee and went out to the truck. I sighed as I looked up at the dark grey sky, it was definitely going to rain today. Though I suppose right now that's better than sun, the sparkly vamps wouldn't be able to come to school then. I chuckled at the idea of vampires sparkling, it's just so... so lame.

I got into the truck and turned the key in the ignition. LadyBug came roaring to life, I sat for five minutes letting the truck warm up. My mind naturally drifted to the Cullens; Jasper in particular. I wondered what he was like, how old he was-in vampire years, what kind of things he was interested in and what parts of history he had witnessed. My Jasper must have gone through a lot. I made a strangled sound. My Jasper? I sighed and rubbed my head, I could feel a migraine coming on. And as with everything, I decided to shut it out of my brain. There was no use in trying to figure out where that thought came from.

I decided to think about school instead, what subjects and teachers I had. Whether they would actually teach me something new.

I pulled out of the driveway and on towards school. As I pulled into the parking lot, I saw the Cullens' cars; it was hard to miss them. I tried to get a glimpse of the Cullens but they weren't there. I sighed and found a spot. I parked quickly, and jumped out.

The weather was cold and I wrapped my arms around myself as I walked towards my first period classroom. Naturally I forgot to bring a jacket. I rolled my eyes at myself and hurried into the building and out of the cold.

I saw Shanna leaning casually against the wall reading a Forks high pamphlet. I walked up to her and leaned against the wall.

She spoke without looking up, "I know we've only been here a day, but I'm really disappointed that we haven't yet gotten to have a class outside on the grass with a group of our multi-cultural friends."

I chuckled, as she turned to me presenting the pamphlet with the image she just described on it.

She shook her head as if trying to expel the random thoughts and smiled at me. "We've still got 10 minutes till our classes, let's go to the library and talk."

I nodded and we walked. When we got to the library Shanna led us to an empty table in the corner. We pulled out a book each and sat down.

So have you thought about how to approach him?

We opened the books and began reading whilst talking. I had pulled out a book about animals, I looked at Shanna's book and snorted.

-A book of 1000 chairs? Could you have picked a more random book? Why do they even have that here?

Shanna shrugged.

Some of the chairs look cool. Don't change the subject, have you thought on it?

-Nope, I thought I'd just stare at him the whole lesson if possible.

Shanna nudged me with her shoulder

Come on, I have part of a plan. Hopefully he'll take the bait, unlike you.

-What is it then? What topics?

Nothing like that, I'm not having the conversation for you. Go in early and sit in the corner by the bookcase. Oh and take out your weird little pencil topper thing. Use that.

I frowned.

-Why?

She grinned conspiratorially at me.

You'll see.

-Oh yeah, I was wondering, why didn't you remind me to bring a coat?

I could practically feel her rolling her eyes at me, she chuckled quietly.

I'm not your carer Bells.

-I know, but I'm useless and you always remind me to do that stuff.

She smiled.

It's all part of the plan. I don't know why, but it is.

I sighed, her response made me nervous, it would have been better if I hadn't asked.

Shanna shut her book and turned towards me.

"Let's go."

I looked at the clock on the wall, "We still have time." I moaned.

Shanna shook her head, "You don't. Let's go."

I sighed but was happy that I would get to see Jasper soon. We put the books back in their place and headed to class chatting happily about TV shows. We were talking about possible alternate endings and plot theories for Firefly when we reached Shanna's classroom. The class room already had a few people in there sitting at their computers, Shanna walked in and waved at me, Don't forget.

I rolled my eyes at her and nodded, walking away towards history.

I walked into the room, there were only 2 students sitting down at the front. I walked to the back corner and sat down. I pulled out my books, and my pencil topper, pushing it into place on the end of my pencil.

I stared at it as I waited for class to start. What kind of plan involved a fuzzy monster pencil topper? I couldn't think of a single scenario where this would be helpful. I sat frowning at it for another 5 minutes; when a voice, that sounded like a beautiful mixture of honey and silk, interrupted my useless pondering.

"Excuse me, could I get past the chair please Darlin'"

I looked up to see Jasper Hale with small smile on his lips, I stared at him awestruck for a few seconds before turning a deep red and nodding, moving my chair forward so he could get around me.

He sat down next to me and pulled his books out. I tried my best to ignore his powerful presence by looking back at the pencil topper.

"Is there a secret message on that?" Jasper Hale spoke with humour in his voice.

I blinked and turned towards him confused. He just smiled and pointed at the pencil topper.

I blinked again and shook my head, partially as an answer and partially to get my brain to work again. The latter didn't quite work.

I felt a small amount of lust curl in my stomach as he continued to smile at me, clearly waiting for me to get a hold of my thoughts and continue the conversation.

Emotions! Oh god.

I dampened my emotions, a skill that I had mastered quickly in Phoenix, and attempted to keep the conversation flowing.

"Umm, no I was just thinking, well staring. Thinking and staring. I don't even know why I have this thing."

I felt my face get even hotter. I decided that words were now my enemy.

"It's funny looking, can I have a look?"

I nodded and attempted to take it off to give to him. It didn't quite work out like that. It refused to remove itself from the pencil so I pulled harder, but instead of coming off in my hand, it flew and hit Jasper on the nose.

We were both silent for a few seconds before he laughed and picked it up off the floor.

I stared at him mortified, why? Why did that just happen? Why didn't he move or catch it? Why? Why? Why?

He examined it while I screamed internally.

"Doesn't it get distracting?"

I looked at him confused, "What?"

"The fuzzy monster, doesn't it get in the way when you write?"

"A little I guess, but I don't really use it that much. I can't even remember why I have it. It's kind of cute though."

"Cute? I guess so." He didn't look convinced, "It's a little embarrassing to be hit by this little guy. He has rainbow hair and slinky arms."

I grinned and blushed, "I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to injure you."

He looked back at me a smiled tenderly causing me to blush.

He opened his mouth to speak again but was interrupted by the teacher rushing into the room panting, "Sorry I'm late everyone. Let's start."

I cursed the teacher in my head as I turned to face the front of the room.

A few minutes into starting the lesson I realised that the teacher wasn't going to teach anything in this lesson that I didn't already know. I was looking out the window to check the weather when I felt Jasper poke my arm. I looked over to see him staring straight ahead. I frowned a little until I noticed that he had written a note to me.

I picked up the small piece of scrap paper reading the neat writing on it.

Hey neighbor, you look pretty bored. This teacher tends to just read from books, sorry but I doubt it will get anymore interesting in here. You must be pretty good at history to already know stuff in a senior class.

I blushed slightly at his message and replied in my messy script. I grinned as I thought of a way to screw with him a little. Shanna wouldn't be happy that I got draw first blood.

Great, I was hoping he would talk about more interesting things. I know bits and pieces but I'm sure you know a lot more than I do.

I slid the note back to him and watched him from the corner of my eye. He stiffened slightly as he read my note and I stifled a grin. He started writing and slid the note back to me.

What do you mean?

I grinned.

Well I hear that your family is really smart and you've been in this class longer than me right? I just presumed.

I slid the note back to him and watched as he relaxed slightly.

Fair enough, are you liking Forks?

I nodded, as I read it instead of replying. He plucked the note out of my hands and wrote again.

Sorry, I just realised I haven't introduced myself to you yet, though you probably already know who I am. I'm Jasper Hale, you're Bella Swan right? Chief Swan's daughter?

I nodded again.

Thanks for not calling me Isabella. Apparently my dad has been calling me Isabella behind my back. It's driving me crazy having to correct everyone.

He smirked as he read the message.

You're welcome.

We continued to pass notes to each other for the rest of class, I asked about his family and he described them to me, he asked about mine and I glossed over it, mainly talking about my dad. And much to my displeasure the teacher dismissed us 5 minutes early. We all stood up and packed everything away.

Jasper had finished before I had and leaned against the bookcase waiting patiently for me.

"By the way I'm going to be claiming compensation from you for earlier, I was injured in an accident that wasn't my fault."

I grinned, "What kind of compensation?"

He took a moment to reply, "Lunch? Come sit with me and my family."

I blinked at him, "I'm going to be having lunch with my friend Shanna. We moved here together so we kind of stick together."

Jasper nodded, "She can sit with us to."

I smiled and nodded, "Okay then, we will. You can meet her if you want first? She's a bit of a bitch but I love her. I'm going to her classroom to meet her because we have the same class next."

He laughed and nodded, "Sounds like my sister Rosalie."

We made our way to Shanna's classroom in a comfortable silence.

We were next to Shanna's classroom when one of the girls I had met the day before walked up to me and pretended to accidentally spill her water on me.

"Oh Bella, I'm so sorry." She said in a fake voice. I think her name was Jessica. She pulled some tissues out her pocket and threw them at me, "Go clean yourself up."

She gave Jasper a flirtly smile and wink before she walked away.

I stared after her open mouthed.

Did that bitch do what I think she did?

-Apparently.

I shook my hands of the water and checked the damage. There was a water mark down the front of my top. I blushed and wished that I had bought a jacket.

Jasper handed me some tissues and I dried my hands and as much of my top as I could. Jasper was frowning, it looked like he wanted to hunt Jessica down.

It was rude but not exactly life threatening.

Shanna stormed out of the classroom, looking like she was on the war path. Jasper turned to her confused. She quickly put a mask of calm on her face and looked at my top. "What happened?"

"Some girl just spilled her water on me." I explained even though she already knew.

"On purpose?"

I nodded, "It was one of the girls we met yesterday."

"Her name's Jessica."

Shanna turned to Jasper as if she hadn't realised he was there, "Jessica? The bitch with the brown hair who's eyes are too close together?"

I snorted and Jasper chuckled, "That's the one."

Shanna nodded and turned back to me, moving to the side slightly so that she wouldn't be blocking Jasper, "I'll get her back, since I know you're too nice. It's a shame you don't have a jacket."

I stuck my tongue out at her.

Jasper shrugged out of his jacket and handed it to me. I looked at him in confusion, he smiled, "For the cold and the water mark, you can give it back tomorrow."

I nodded, "Thank you."

My face turned a light pink as I put the jacket on. I started to feel awkward so I told Shanna the plans.

"We're sitting with Jasper and his family at lunch. You're okay with that."

She laughed, "If you say so." She addressed Jasper, "Every time I say she's too nice, she tries to order me around or be mean to me to prove me wrong."

Jasper laughed again, "I take it you're Shanna?"

Shanna nodded, "And I take it you're Jasper Hale? The kids in this town gossip a lot about your family. Is it true that your family holds annual incestuous orgies?"

Jasper and I made a chocking sound. I elbowed Shanna in the ribs and turned bright red, she jumped back slightly.

Jasper finally contained his shock and laughed. "It's not true, we're a pretty normal family."

Apart from all the blood sucking.

I contained my laughter and spoke to Jasper, "I mentioned that she could be a bitch but I think I forgot to mention that she's really random, says what she thinks and is very inappropriate."

Jasper just smiled, "You're both still welcome to join me and my family for lunch."

I nodded and smiled, "We'd all better get to class. Don't want to be late."

Jasper nodded, "See you both at lunch." I smiled at his retreating figure and turned to Shanna, narrowing my eyes at her.

She just grinned at me, linked her arm through mine and pulled me to our next class.

-Did you really need to do that?

She nodded.

Absolutely

I sighed, lunch was going to be interesting.

The rest of the classes up till lunch were with Shanna so I spent most of the time thanking her for the tips and berating her for the conversation with Jasper. She sat through it all cheerfully.

When the bell went we walked towards the lunch hall. I could feel my nerves eating at my stomach, Shanna nudged me, "You'll be fine. You don't need to stress so much. Didn't you have a good conversation with him?"

I nodded, "That's not what I'm worried about, I'm worried about the things you're going to say."

She shot me a mischievous grin, "Don't worry, I won't embarrass you. I'm just planning on torturing them a little."

I laughed, "Okay, that's fine. I might join in. Let's start a tally of who can throw in the most jokes."

We laughed as we walked into the queue for food. I spied Jasper and his family, Jasper met my eyes and smiled, he was sitting next to Alice who was bouncing in her seat, unable to contain her excitement.

Are we that exciting?

-This is probably the first time they've sat with humans at school.

I guess, but still.

Shanna just shrugged at me. I grabbed a sandwich and a lemonade, I turned to Shanna to see that she'd picked up a sandwich, a cookie, an unidentified sloppy hot meal and a drink. I frowned at her, she chose the most disgusting meal they had on offer.

"Umm, sis? What are you doing?"

She just smiled at me handing me the sandwich and holding the tray. She paid for both of our meals, despite my objections and picked up the tray. We started walking towards the Cullen's table.

I saw Jessica sitting at one of the tables, she looked up at me and gave me a fake smile. I pushed down my anger and had planned to walk past her and ignore her. Apparently Shanna had different plans. As we were walking past her Shanna pretended to trip and dropped her tray of food muck all over Jessica. Jessica screamed and stood trying to shake it off, looking at Shanna with anger. Everyone was looking over to us with expressions that were a mixture of awe and shock.

Shanna just looked at her, "Sorry."

She then picked up some napkins off the side and threw them in Jessica's face, "Clean yourself up."

Jessica stared at her opened mouthed for a moment, "You bitch, how dare-"

Shanna cut her off my coming in close to her and speaking in a low voice, "I don't give a shit what you have to say. If you ever try to fuck with my sister again you'll get worse than this."

Jessica backed away from her a little, fear prominent in her eyes. Shanna simply linked arms with me again and pulled my over to the Cullen's table. Jessica left the lunch room with another girl trailing after her. With no more drama to occupy them, everyone went back to their meals and conversations.

We sat down on the Cullen's table, with me sitting next to Jasper. Shanna grabbed her sandwich and started eating as if nothing happened, and for the first minute we all just stared at her. Finally she looked up at everyone. She looked between us and broke the silence, "What?"

Alice looked at her in shock, "I didn't see it."

Shanna looked at her and titled her head slightly, "What do you mean? The Jessica thing?"

I nudged her, "Of course she means the Jessica thing, what other thing could she mean."

Shanna stuck her tongue out at me, "But you guys were only two tables along, how did you not see it?"

Jasper cleared his throat, "She means, that no one had any idea that was going to happen. It was so out of the blue."

Of course that's what they meant, by the way I would count that as score one for me.

The others nodded. He big guy- Emmett laughed loudly, "That was awesome! You've only been here like two days and you've made a scene."

Shanna grinned at him and Alice seemed to come to her senses and smiled at us, "I can't believe you did that. What did she do?"

Shanna shrugged, "What makes you think she did anything?" Alice stared at her, and Emmett and Jasper chuckled. I just rolled my eyes and answered.

"She spilled water down me earlier, apparently Shanna was more offended by it than I was."

Alice laughed, her voice was like a bell.

Shanna shrugged again. And I sighed again, "Don't mind her, she enjoys messing with people."

Alice smiled and nodded, "I suppose we should introduce ourselves to you, I'm Alice Cullen, this is Emmett, this is Rosalie Hale and you know Jasper." She grinned and I nodded as she introduced everyone. Rosalie looked at me coldly when I smiled at her, I quickly realised that she probably wasn't going to like me. Maybe it was the species thing, but the others were all really nice to me.

Alice was talking to me about fashion and shopping when I felt a disturbance in the force. I looked over at Shanna who had finished her food and was in a staring match with Rosalie. Shanna was staring calmly and Rosalie was glaring back at her. Everyone went quiet and still, watching them. Shanna grinned a little which seemed to send Rosalie over the edge, she stood up from the table and left. We all watched her walk out. Emmett looked like he wanted to go after her but chose to stay at the table instead.

"What's up with her?" Shanna asked us.

I elbowed her, "What? I just smiled, I didn't realise my smile was that morbid and creepy-fying."

I rolled my eyes, "Do you have to try and start a fight with everyone?"

Shanna put her hand over her heart, feigning offence, "I smiled, that was it. In most cultures it's considered polite."

I raised an eyebrow but let it go. "Sorry, she seems to be irritable today."

Shanna stuck her tongue out at me, the others just smiled at me.

"Don't worry about it Darlin', Rose can be a bit touchy sometimes."

Alice decided to change the subject, "So what classes do you two have next?"

I pulled my schedule out of my bag, "I have Biology, which means that Shanna has Latin."

Shanna nodded, Alice clapped her hands happily, "I have Latin to, let's sit next to each other."

Shanna nodded, "I didn't see you yesterday, did you just start?"

Alice shook her head, "I missed yesterday because I needed to send in a form."

Shanna nodded then looked around the table, "Wasn't there another one of you? Is he skipping today?"

They all looked awkward for a moment before Alice responded, "He's gone to visit some family members, he will probably be back in a few weeks."

Shanna put on a worried look, "I hope everything is okay."

They all nodded, Shanna turned to me with a mischievous spark in her eyes, "Didn't you say you had Biology with him."

I nodded, "Yeah, I feel like I offended him. He looked like he wanted to eat me."

They all looked at me with wide eyes, whilst me and Shanna did our best to suppress our laughs.

1-1, well played.

This time Jasper changed the subject, asking us about how we were doing with the school work.

And the rest of lunch went like that, me and Shanna making subtle comments about their vampirism, and them brushing it off and changing the subject.

All in all, it was a fun lunch. We all then walked towards our next classes, Shanna and Alice walked away to Latin, chatting happily and Jasper walked me to Biology.

The rest of the school day passed quickly. I was pulling into the driveway after dropping Shanna home when Charlie headed out the door with a slight frown on his face.

I jumped out of the truck and headed over to him, "Is everything okay? You're leaving?"

He looked over at me and smiled, "Yup, there's a new troubling case that they need my help with. I have to go back in, I'll be back late tonight. And probably for the next few nights if we don't solve it."

He looked at me worriedly, "I don't feel okay leaving you alone in the house. Maybe you could invite Silvers over? You two could stay here together for the week, It would make me feel a lot better."

I smiled at him, "Sure thing Dad. Don't worry, and stay safe."

He nodded, patted me on the shoulder and bead to his cruiser. I watched him drive away until he turned the corner, before I headed into the house.

I threw myself onto the sofa and began to worry. Was there really a big case? Or was he just trying to get away from me. Was he getting sick of me staying here? What if he kicked me out? Sent me back to Phoenix? I began to hyperventilate when there was a knock on the door. I ignored it, trying to fix my breathing. I got myself mostly under control, Charlie wouldn't have allowed me to come if he didn't want me, and he wouldn't have told me he was worried or told me to ask someone to come over. I took a deep breath as another knock sounded, and walked over to answer the door. Jasper was standing on my doorstep with a worried expression on his face. I stared at him for a while, not really understanding that he was actually there. After a few seconds I smiled at him, he smiled back, somewhat awkwardly and cleared his throat, "Are you alright?"

I nodded, slightly confused. Why was he here? Why did he look so worried? He shouldn't be able to feel my emotions properly. I realised that he had probably heard me hyperventilating through the door. I made more of an effort to look okay, "I'm fine, I just wasn't expecting anyone to come round. How come you're here?"

He gave me a small smile but didn't appear to believe me, though he didn't voice it, "You dropped this on the way to your van," he pulled out one of my small notepads and handed it me, "I couldn't catch you before you left, I didn't have your number but I knew where Chief Swan lived, so I thought I'd bring it to you in case you needed it."

I smiled as I took it off him, "Thanks, I haven't unpacked my bag yet so I hadn't even realised, thank you."

He grinned back at me, "You're welcome," he looked at me with a slightly nervous glint in his eye, "So could I have it? Your number? In case anything like this happens again?"

I laughed, "You sound like you only came over here to ask for my number." I laughed again but Jasper didn't join me. Instead he looked at me steadily, "I did."

I blinked, startled, and said the first thing that came to mind, "I don't think my notebook would appreciate being used and abused like that."

Why was my brain my enemy? Why did it treat me like this?

Jasper just laughed it off, "We had a good talk beforehand, the notebook was all for my plan."

I grinned at him joining in with my weirdness, "My notebook's a people pleaser, it probably thought it was going to get a good deal out of it."

"It got returned to you, I can't think of a better deal."

I blushed slightly, I didn't have a response to that.

Jasper smiled in victory, "Can I have your number then? I'd hate to have to use another notebook as an excuse."

I smiled and rolled my eyes, "If you want."

I pulled my phone out of my pocket, unlocking it, Jasper plucked it out of my hand and went about exchanging our numbers. I waited patiently until he was finished, I looked out at the road and noticed that there wasn't a car there. I grinned internally at the chance to screw around with the pretty vampire.

"Hey, where's your car? You didn't walk here right? It would've taken you longer to get here if you did."

He looked up at me, handing my phone back, and easily came up with a lie. "My siblings dropped me off not too far away, I told them to go ahead instead of wait for me because I wanted to pick something up from the shop."

I nodded, "Do you need a ride back then?" I asked cautiously.

He shook his head, "I fancy the walk, thanks though."

I just smiled, knowing there was no point in trying to convince him.

"I'd better be off home, Esme would be mad if I get back too late on a school night."

I smiled again and nodded, "Thanks again for bringing me my notebook."

He waved as he walked away, and I closed the door, leaning against it. How does Jasper manage to bring out my uncoordinated speech? Why does my brain not want to work properly when he's around? These were questions I would think about another time. My mind was currently occupied by the fact that Jasper Hale wanted my number, my number. I have no idea why he'd want it but he did, enough to come round to my house to return something.

I was basking in the warm feeling when my phone rang, I jumped slightly, wondering whether it would be Jasper. It wasn't, it was Shanna. I answered.

"Hey, what's up?"

"No need to sound so disappointed, I just wanted to ask you how it went with Jasper. Well I know how it went, so more how you feel about it."

I smiled and rolled my eyes, "Want to remind me how that works again?"

I heard her sigh through the phone. "You know that I don't have a clue. I sometimes just know. It's not that weird, there are people out there who just know shit."

"Of course. Well, I feel good about it. Surprisingly good about it. I thought I would have been freaking out more than I am right now, but I'm not. It feels nice. Maybe because you're around for it?"

"Nope, this is all you and him, which is good. We rely way too much on each other for mental strength."

I laughed, "Ain't that the truth. So what's the next step I take with Jasper? Do I call him? Do I wait for him to call me? Do we text? Do you think he'll still want us to sit with his family? I like them, they all seem nice. Except for Rosalie, but I think she could be nice, she just seems very protective."

Shanna's laughter interrupted me, "One question at a time woman. I have about as much dating experience as you- none, so I have no idea about the calling or texting. I assume you wait for him to call you and I think it'll be expected for you to eat lunch with them. And I like them to, they seem nice. Rosalie is just very protective of certain parts of humanity, and her family and mate. That's all I could get from the situation. Did I answer all your questions?"

"Yes, thanks. Charlie said he's helping with a big case and to ask someone to come round to stay until it's over. You up for it?"

"Yeah, that sounds good. We'll have a week long slumber party, I'll bring the vodka and nail varnish. You get the pillows made of feathers and some really bad dresses. We can re-create some films."

I laughed, "You can come round anytime. He's not coming back till late so we can start the slumber party tonight and we can have this whole talk in person."

"Sounds good to me. Give me an hour or so and I'll be there. See you later Bells."

"Bye."

I started making food, chicken fajitas. I finished eating and put all the extra food in the fridge.

I then went to sit on the sofa in the living until Shanna knocked on the door.

I opened the door for her and went to sit back in my original place on the sofa. Shanna walked straight into the kitchen and opened up the fridge. She pulled out the leftovers from the fajitas and sat down next to me, eating from the Tupperware box with a spoon.

"Okay, I know about the conversation, the whole bringing your notebook over to ask you for your number and such. Tell me everything else."

I grinned, "There's not much else. I just can't believe he wanted my number. Maybe he likes me?"

She rolled her eyes at me, "Gee, you think?"

I kicked at her lightly, "Shut up, I don't know. It could've been a friend thing though."

"Just a friend thing? The guy just walked across the town, even though it's not that big of a thing for a vampire, with your notebook to ask for your number. There is no way that this is just a friend thing." She chuckled.

I smiled back but I knew that even if Jasper liked me now he wouldn't once he knew the real me, what I had been forced to do.

Shanna was carefully watching my expression, "Want to tell me what you're thinking Bells?"

I gave her a small smile, "Don't you already know?"

She nodded, "Your expression says it all but it's not the same as actually saying it."

I sighed, "When he finds out about... stuff, he'll be disgusted and stop liking me, and I wouldn't blame him. I'm disgusting."

Shanna gave me a hard look, "You are not disgusting. That man is disgusting. You wouldn't ever call me disgusting for what's happened to me, so why would you call yourself disgusting? And you should give Jasper some more credit, he's got a past himself. Everyone has some form of a skeleton in their closest that they think others will be disgusted at."

I tilted my head at her but she just shook her head, "You'll find out at some point, it's not my place to tell you that."

I nodded, "How do you know about it."

"I have a contact. Are you going to continue this thought train of condemnation and self destruction? Because I'll just end up joining you and we won't leave the house for two weeks like last time. We have to keep each other strong."

I nodded and attempted to fill myself with confidence. I could stay strong, I will stay strong. As long as me and Shanna were together we could keep each other strong. Just like what we've been doing our whole lives.

Shanna smiled as she saw the confidence grow in my eyes.

"So when do you think he'll call?"

The instant nerves crushed my confidence and I groaned, covering my face with a cushion.

"Hopefully never, how am I supposed to talk to him on the phone? How does a phone even work?"

Shanna laughed pulling the cushion away, "It'll be easier to do than you think. Don't you feel more relaxed around him?"

"Yes and no. He makes me feels good and normal, but he also makes me feel so nervous and other stuff."

Shanna laughed again, "You'll be fine, just be yourself. Lunches will be significantly more interesting as long as I'm allowed to sit with you guys. You cannot leave me alone with those other kids, Angela and Ben are fine but the rest... There is no way I'm not coming with you to eat with the Cullen's."

I laughed at the horror on her face at having to eat with other people.

"I'm sure you can still eat with them."

We continued to talk about the Cullens and school for a while.

She smiled, "So more girly talk things, what are you wearing tomorrow? There are certain styles and stuff right? Like popular kid clothes, geek clothes, goth clothes... other people clothes. Which are you picking? That's what women talk about right? Maybe we should go buy a magazine just to be sure."

I chuckled, "I don't know, and I'm wearing my normal stuff. No make overs, we are not re-creating the scene from Pretty Woman."

Shanna laughed, "That's probably a good idea, though to be fair we should probably go to sleep. I don't know how but it's already 1.30."

I blinked and looked at the clock on the side, how did that even happen? We both got up and ready for bed. We slid under the sheets and I fell asleep within 5 minutes, I guess I was more tired than I realised.

In the morning me and Shanna got ready for school and headed off, we followed the same pattern each day for the the rest of the week; we went to classes, ate lunch with the Cullens and spent the evening watching films.

We barely saw my dad at all, he was really busy with the new case. He ended up staying over night at the station most nights.

Me and Jasper had grown closer over the week, we spoke and texted each other all the time, most of the time it was light hearted chats and jokes. We were both holding back from talking about anything too deep, but it was nice to be able to relax and talk to someone other than Shanna. It made me feel more normal, despite the fact that he was a vampire.

On Friday me and Shanna were sitting on top of my truckafter school when Jasper and Alice came over to us.

"Hey guys, not heading back yet?" Shanna asked them when they got into human hearing distance.

Alice responded with a smile, "Not yet, we wanted to ask you two if you wanted to come round to the house tomorrow."

I brightened up, I had felt a little down about not being able to see Jasper on the weekend, and this meant more time to hang out with him and his family.

I nodded, "That sounds great. What time do you guys want us? Where do you live?"

Jasper smiled and stepped forward, "I can come pick you up? It can be a bit tricky to find your way up to the house."

I nodded, "Sounds good."

I looked over at Shanna for confirmation but she was busy staring pleadingly at Alice."

Alice gave a big smile, " How about Jasper takes Bella and I'll pick up Shanna? I need your opinion on the thing we were talking about yesterday."

Shanna nodded rapidly, "Yes, that's a good plan. Everybody's a winner."

I blushed at Shanna and Alice's unsubtle attempt to give me and Jasper alone time.

Alice was bouncing slightly and clapped her hands together, "Now that's sorted we'd better head home." She grabbed Jasper by the arm and pulled him away, he smiled at me before glaring at Alice and letting her escort him to the car.

I chuckled and turned to Shanna, "Let's head back to the house."

She smirked at my excitement and slid off the truck and got into the car.

I spent the rest of the evening grinning to myself, I wonder what Jasper's house was like, and his parents.

When we got back Charlie was leaving, he had messy hair and looked like he had aged 10 years due to stress. He smiled despite this, left the door open a crack and waited for me to park the truck.

"Sorry, I've got to head back to the station again Bells. Hey Silvers thanks for keeping her company."

Shanna smiled at him, "It's fine Papa Swan, I hope the case you're working on gets resolved soon."

Charlie nodded, "It's a tough one, make sure you to stay safe. Stay together if you are going anywhere."

We both nodded at his serious face, he sighed, "I'd better get going, there's some pizza in the kitchen; help yourselves to it."

With that he got into his truck and drove off towards the station.

I turned and looked worriedly at Shanna who was frowning, "I'm worried about Charlie, he's working himself half to death. This must be a big case."

Shanna nodded, "Everyone will have to be very careful, the case isn't likely to be over soon. Charlie needs to rest," she looked over at my worried expression, "It'll be okay, he's just working hard. It's a really important case to a lot of states, he's not overworking to avoid you or anything."

I nodded and looked down, I felt Shanna's hand on my shoulder, "It'll be fine Bells, he'll be able to get some rest over the weekend."

I nodded again and gave a small smile, looking over in the direction Charlie went. I felt Shanna let go of my shoulder and heard her head into the house. I continued to stare down the street for a few moments. The worry was eating a hole in my stomach and chest, what if Charlie got hurt? What if the case doesn't get solved? What if he was only working so hard because he didn't want to be around me? The questions kept circling around in my head untill I took a deep breath and dampened them. At this point the answers didn't matter since there was nothing I could do to change them.

I just needed to work on keeping them down, asking these kinds of questions was a surefire way to drive yourself insane. And I have enough insanity as it is. I walked to the house, taking one last look before shutting the thoughts completely out of my mind and walking through the threshold.

I thought about Jasper instead, my body instantly felt warm and relaxed. I sunk down into the sofa with a smile on my face, suppression and avoidance for the win.