Chapter Four: Open Book

Waking up the next day was something that I didn't want to really do. Jasper Hale invaded my dreams last night and kept me up. I couldn't escape those golden eyes. There was something about Jasper that just wouldn't get out of my head. I wasn't quite sure if it was the way that he acted towards me on my first day, or if it was because he was unmistakably beautiful.

I sighed and shook my head. I threw my legs over the edge of my bed and stood up. I didn't bother glancing at the clock knowing that I was running on time anyways.

It was still cold outside if my room was any consultation. The hard wood floor was cold, even though my socks.

I searched through my closet before sighing and grabbing my green North Face sweatshirt. I paired that with my light wash jeans and my regular white vans.

I decided to pull all my hair to one side and braid it loosely. I couldn't find the energy to really do my makeup so I just put on some mascara and called it good.

I grabbed my backpack on my way out of my room and into the living room. I heard some pots and pans banging on each other coming from the kitchen, leading me to believe that my mom was cooking breakfast.

I looked into the kitchen and proved my suspicion. "Hey, mom." I greeted lightly as I sat down on the island in the middle of the kitchen.

"Hey." She stopped fussing around with breakfast as she turned to look at me, "How'd you sleep?"

I thought back to when I woke up during the middle of the night last night from my nightmare and shrugged my shoulders at my mom, "Alright, after the first nightmare."

She kept her eyes on me, trying to determine if I was actually telling the truth or not, before sighing and nodding her head, "Eggs?" She asked changing the subject back to breakfast. I nodded my head with a smile as she placed a plate down in front of me. "I never got to ask you, how did your first day go yesterday?"
Jasper's glare flashed in my mind before I looked up at my mom, "It went okay."

"Any friends?'

"Mom."

"What? I'm just curious." She said shrugging her shoulders. I shook my head at my mom's curiosity as I finished the rest of my eggs on my plate.

"The people were nice, I'll leave it at that." I commented before placing my plate in the sink. She nodded her head with a sigh knowing that was the best that she was going to get out of me.

A beep outside told me that Bella was here, I leaned over the counter and kissed my mom on the cheek, "Thanks for breakfast, mom. I'll see you later, love you."

I heard her quick reply as I walked out the door and jumped into Bella's truck. "Mornin'." Bella nodded her head at my greet before taking off down the road.

"I really considered not going back to school this morning." Bella shook her head and I couldn't help but agree with her.

"What happened yesterday that made you so on edge?" I asked looking over at Bella, remembering at the end of the day how she seemed off.

Bella glanced over at me before sighing, "You remember Edward Cullen, the one Jessica was telling us about?" I nodded my head as her answer. "Well, during my biology class, he didn't stop glaring. First he was glaring at me, but then he turned his attention to glare at the table. I didn't even speak one work to him and he already hates me. And I have to deal with him all year since he's my bio partner."

My mouth popped open into a 'o' shape as I heard Bella tell me her story. She noticed my silence as she turned her head looking at me with her eyebrows raised, "What?"
"The same thing happened to me in my history class, but it was with Jasper instead." I revealed. Bella glanced over at me, trying not to keep her eyes off the road for too long, before sighing.

What is up with the Cullen family?

Bella pulled into the parking lot of the school before parking in the same spot we were in yesterday. I felt my eyes unwillingly search for Jasper's as I swept the lot. I glanced over at the spot where a silver Volvo was parked yesterday to see that in it's place was a red convertible. Four out of the six Cullen's were standing around waiting for school to start. I looked over at Bella when I noticed that Jasper nor Edward were here today, but when I was going to say something about it, I realized she was also looking in their direction.

"Well, there goes that idea." I muttered under my breath, thinking about the idea where Bella and I were going to confront the two boys and demand what their problem was.

"I wonder where they are." Bella thought out loud. I shrugged my shoulders as I looked back at the convertible. I met eyes with Rosalie and quickly adverted my eyes when I got a glare back.

"I think it's their whole family." I said as the first bell went off, making the students hanging around their vehicles start heading into the school. Bella and I followed suit.

"Why do you say that?" Bella asked locking the truck up.

"I just got another glare from the blonde, Rosalie." I said quickly as Bella and I walked next to each other.

"Do you think they said anything to their siblings?" Bella asked trying not to look over at the Cullen's as they made their way into the school slowly.

"And say what? It's not like there is a story to tell- at least on their side. We were the ones that got victimized."

Bella shrugged. "Then why else would she glare at you?"

"I don't know." I sighed heading into the school.

I was wrong to think that school would hopefully distract me from thinking about the Cullen family, but I couldn't get them out of my mind. There was something off about their family, and it wasn't just because they were inhumanly beautiful. Their golden eyes stood out, and the fact that they were all adopted? It wasn't logical.

I grabbed my bag and made my way to the lunch room, finding Bella right away. I walked over to her and sat down, not hungry enough to get something to eat. I could tell that Bella was confused and concerned that I didn't have anything to eat and I just shook her off. She requested that I had some of her fries and to make her happy I took a couple. Lunch was uneventful, just the people at our table talking about going to some beach called La Push. I accepted and Bella nodded after, seeing that I was going. It could give me the distraction I needed to get my mind off things.

During lunch I kept looking over to their table thinking that they would magically show up, even though I know they wouldn't. I could tell that Bella was doing the same thing. Something just seemed off about their disappearance.

The bell rang ending lunch and I really thought about skipping out on the last couple of periods. I only had English and History last, but I knew that if I skipped out on my second day, my mom would have my head. I sighed as I looked towards the school's exit before sucking it up and moving towards English.

Just two more periods and then I'm home free.

In History, I couldn't help but glance over at the empty seat next to me a couple of times. I tried shrugging off the feeling that something was going on with the Cullen family. Maybe they were both sick, or maybe they had something to do today. I shouldn't be assuming that they were trying to avoid Bella and I.

I shook my head, he'll probably be here tomorrow.

But he wasn't there the next day, or the day after that. It was now Friday during lunch and Edward nor Jasper have been in school for the whole week. I don't wanna tell Bella, but I'm actually starting to get suspicious. Both boys acted funny towards Bella and I and then don't happen to come to school for the rest of the week?
Something wasn't adding up, I thought as I reached the cafeteria. I was walking side by side next to Bella and Mike, he happens to have a very obsessive crush on Bella. He follows her everywhere and I mean, everywhere.

I looked over to Bella when I heard her gasp softly. I made eye contact with her before she nodded her head over to the Cullen's table; five people sat at the table instead of four. Edward was back sitting with his family, but Jasper was still missing. I shook my head as we started to reach our usually table.

"When did he get back?" Bella whispered over to me.

I shrugged and looked over at her. She looked more confused then ever. Im sure I looked the same.

"Jasper's still missing, though." Bella stated glancing over at me as we sat down at the table. I shrugged my shoulders, trying to act like it didn't bother me not seeing the man that was haunting my dreams every night this week.

All during lunch, Bella kept looking at Edward. But he would do the same thing and look right back at her and it would lead to 2 minute staring contests at a time. Edward would be the first to look away and Bella would let out a big breath that she was holding into. She would look at me before joining back into the conversation at the table. I just continued to pick at my lunch that was sitting in front of me, not a single bite was taken out of the garden salad- which I found out was the only edible thing in this school.

The ending bell went off and I, like the rest of our table, started getting ready for our next class. Eric walked next to me with a smile on his face, "You still coming to La Push beach this weekend?"

I cursed under my breath as I thought about how I agreed to go. I haven't been in the greatest mood lately, and I really needed to settle down and buy a car, I couldn't keep grabbing rides from Bella every morning. "I'm sorry, Eric, but me and my mom made plans to go car shopping this weekend." Total lie, but I would soon make it true- as soon as I got home.

His smile dropped instantly and I saw him about to pout at me, "Next time." I said, trying to get him to cheer up a little.
He nodded his head at me, "Yeah, next time." He looked over his shoulder towards where Mike and Angela were waiting to go to their next class, "I'll see you around." He muttered before making his way over to them.

I groaned lightly before turning around and heading to English. I didn't want to get his hopes up, but I also didn't want to disappoint him.

I hated disappointing people.

English went by without any struggle, I couldn't complain too much. The staring of other students stopped after the first couple of days, now they just ignore me like I was just another student. I couldn't be more glad.

I barely looked up as I made my way to my desk in the corner once I reached my History class. Nothing has changed, the same empty seat was sitting right next to mine. The same students were sitting in the same seats. The same teacher was teaching the same lesson. I sighed as I sat down, grabbed out my notebook and opened up to my current notes. It had doodles all over the sides of the notes, making it messy and hard to understand. Thankfully I understood History well enough to not need my notes.

I barely glanced up when I felt a presence next to my desk. I didn't think anything of it, just continued writing today's lesson into my notebook.

I did, however, look up once the body sat into the vacant seat. I stole a glance from the corner of my eye to see that Jasper was back after all. I felt my breath catch in my throat as I watched his eyes stare at the front of the class. They were more of a brown color than the gold that terrorized me at night.

He looked over at me without turning his head, and I snapped my eyes to my notebook, quickly writing down the notes that were on the board. I tried to hide the fact that my cheeks were starting to turn red at how I was almost caught gazing. I mentally cursed that I had pulled my hair back today into a pony tail on top of my head.
The whole rest of History was spent that way. Me trying to get glimpses of Jasper, while he looked over at me every time that he felt my eyes on him. I would try to act like I wasn't looking at him, even though we both knew that I was.

I barely focused on my assignment that was due at the end of class, so when the bell went off I cursed as I looked down at my unfinished paper.

I looked up as a paper with the answers were placed on my desk. Jasper's back was walking away from me, but his name was on top of the paper so I knew that it was his paper. He looked at me from over his shoulder before heading out the door without another glance.

I quickly copied his answers before turning the papers in onto of Ms. Gilbert's desk and hurried out of the class. I wanted to thank Jasper, but he was no where in sight.
I sighed as looked around the hallways, trying to find Bella. I stopped in my tracks as I saw Bella talk to Edward from across the hall. I hung back as I let her talk to him alone, I didn't want to get into their conversation. I was about to turn around and head to her car to wait for her, but Edward suddenly turned around and walked down the hall towards the outdoors.

I blinked before making my way over to Bella. She watched Edward until he turned a corner and she could no longer see him. I heard her sigh as she turned to look at me, before jumping. I gave her a little laugh as she placed her hand over her chest, "Don't do that." She glared at me as I continued laughing.

"It's not my fault that you were so mesmerized that you didn't realize I was standing right behind you."

She slapped my arm lightly, shaking her head at me.

"So, I take it that Biology went better than the last encounter?" I asked as we started walking down the hallway to get outside.

She nodded her head at me with a smile, "Much better. He apologized to me about what happened on Monday and we talked for the rest of the period about why I moved, and how I was liking the move." She smiled to herself before glancing at me, "What about you? I heard Jasper was back."

I gave her a weird look. "Edward." She answered with a shrug.

I nodded my head slowly, "Well, I didn't get glared at." I said kind of upset that we didn't get to talk like Bella and Edward did. I shook away the jealousy for my friend. I should be happy that they have begun talking.

"You guys didn't talk?" She asked fixing her backpack strap on her shoulder. I shook my head as her silent answer. She pursed her lips looking at me. I could tell that she wanted to apologize to me, but she really didn't have anything to be apologizing for. It's not like I was waiting for Jasper to speak to me.

Lie.

"He did let me copy his answers at the end of class, though." I said thinking about the nice gesture.

Bella smiled over at me, "At least it's something, right?"

I just shrugged my shoulders.

The rest of the night was uneventful. I had dinner with my mom- I finally decided to make something for dinner. It wasn't anything special, just some hamburgers and some mac and cheese on the side. I did my homework and watched some TV. I tried not to think about Jasper, or anything about the Cullen's in general. I just needed a night to think for myself instead.

And that's exactly what I did.

Rewritten: 10/7/15