Chapter Two: Is She or Isn't She?
Bella's POV
The same question had been sounding through my head on a continuous loop for the last four hours. How was this possible? Alice had said all morning that she hadn't seen the woman in any vision she'd had and of course I believed her. Why would she lie about something like that? This could mess up everything we'd planned for the next few years, if this Cassidy was in fact some kin to me. I couldn't think of any other alternative though. What were the chances that another family with the last name Swan had moved into Forks while we'd been away? Very, slim indeed. Even I knew that in the blind panic that was creeping up at the edges of my mind.
The only saving grace I could think of was the promise Charlie had given me, and the rest of my family, when we'd explained why we were leaving. He'd promised that for as long as he was alive he would never mention me, Edward, Renesmee or the rest of the Cullens again. He'd understood that we'd want to come back. I trusted him to keep the promise and knew that he had. Edward seemed slightly positive that this woman knew nothing about us, and the last thoughts he'd heard from her as we'd left class had been that she couldn't remember ever knowing a Cullen or a McCarty. She hadn't recognized my face either, another clue that if she was somehow kin to me, Charlie had kept to his promise.
I just couldn't figure out how it was possible for her to be kin to me. When we'd left, Charlie hadn't been interested in anyone, it had been clear he was still somewhat attached to my mother. Unless…it was possible, but I would have thought Jacob would have told us about it.
"Sue," I whispered across the table at lunch.
My family, except for Rosalie and Renesmee, were sitting around me. They had opted to take classes that would put them at lunch after us--simply because they were classes they had both wanted to take and couldn't get at any other time. Without them, it felt slightly wrong to discuss the problem at hand, but if I didn't get it out of my own head soon I was sure I was going to go insane.
"Need a little more information, Bells." Emmett rolled his eyes and I fought back a sneer.
"Sue Clearwater," I further. "She was basically living with dad when we left. I didn't think of it at the time, but sometimes the way they looked at each other, the basic sparks were there. She was young enough to still have children."
I looked at Edward as he started chuckling. I could feel the confusion write itself across my face as I watched him. I didn't see anything amusing about this. I had been banging around every idea I could think of for four hours, this seemed to be the best one and he was laughing.
"I'm sorry Bella," he laughed out finally, after someone, I assumed Emmett, kicked him. "It's just that it makes so much sense. There's a boy that she keeps thinking of. Ben. His name popped up a few times and there's a picture of him on her desk. He looks a bit like Seth, just with lighter hair and paler skin."
"I don't know." Alice's voice was small, with a crease in her forehead, as she peered at the table in front of us. Jasper's arm was wrapped around her tightly, she'd been trying to force a vision of the woman since we'd sat down, and it was clear he was worried. "We've seen both Leah and Seth since we left, why wouldn't they have mentioned it?"
"Maybe because they knew how upset thinking about Charlie made Bella?" Emmett suggested, earning a nod from myself along with Jasper and Edward.
"Either way, Alice didn't see anything about her. So there doesn't seem to be anything to worry about. She's here, she doesn't know anything about us or she would have put things together while we were in class." Edward's hand took mine as he spoke, trying to calm me in a way that Jasper's talent never could. "It's too early to worry about things; we'll talk to Carlisle tonight and see what he thinks. He could probably find out something at the hospital faster then us talking it out. If you really want to know that is."
I couldn't help but stare at him as I thought it out.
Did I want to know? Of course, if this person was somehow part of my human family I wanted to know. The more important question was what would I do with that information once I had it?
"She'll find out soon." Alice spoke up again, sounding cheerier this time. She looked up and smiled. "I couldn't see the exact answer, but we find out and apparently, you're happy with what you hear."
I smiled at her. I could take the answer if Alice seemed confident that I would like it. A part of me was already resigning itself to her being Charlie's granddaughter some how. That part was almost purring because that meant he'd been happy in the years that we'd been away; and happy was what I had wanted when we'd left. It had been the whole reason we left.
Feeling slightly relieved, I finally allowed myself to look around the lunch room. Forks High School had changed some in the time we'd been away. A few new buildings had been built, but the lunch room hadn't changed. In fact we now sat in the same place where I'd first seen Edward. It seemed fitting, like another natural habit that we'd all missed. My eyes scanned the front of the room, where the only change sat. In the years that we'd been away, a new policy had been put in place. Teachers had to take turns monitoring lunches and with the new relief I was feeling, I couldn't help but wonder if Cassidy Swan was watching this period.
There was a slight disappointment in the pit of my stomach when I didn't see her. But it didn't last long when I heard the same sleigh bell laugh from behind me. I turned my head, making it look like I was simply resting my head on the hand Edward had wrapped around my shoulder, to look. She stood a few booths away, talking to a group, of what I assumed to be, seniors. Shesaid she'd babysat some of the students in our class, so it made sense that she would know some in the room now.
As she talked and laughed with two boys and a girl that she seemed to know very well, I allowed myself to finally look at her. She was taller then me, but only by a few inches. Her hair wasn't the same shade of brown, but if my theory was right, it would make sense for it to be darker. Her smile was a punch in the gut; it held traces of Charlie's smile, only adding to my theory. I had to cut my staring short when she pushed away from the table and started toward the table we were at, probably heading for the door closest to us. My head snapped around much faster then a human's could have as she walked by, heels clicking louder then they had that morning.
"Hey, Miss Swan!" Emmett bellowed about the time she made it to the door.
I sent a glare his way while he got a goofy grin on his face. I watched her turn around and stare oddly at Emmett before she walked back to the table. Her curious expression stayed in place as she crossed her arms and looked at him.
"Yes, Mr. McCarty?" Emmett and I were playing brother and sister, something we'd found to be easier to explain then saying he, Edward, Alice, Renesmee, and myself were all Cullens.
'
"I had a question about that paper you asked us to write last period." I could see the amusement he was getting out of this, but what got my attention more was the ridged stance Jasper had taken on.
Alice caught onto it too, but didn't seem worried in the way she did when she thought he was being bothered by the smell of blood. He'd gotten much better with it since I'd been turned. It helped that Renesmee had a beating heart for him to be around all the time. This tension in his face wasn't from the temptation, but something else.
"It's rather simple, Mr. McCarty. I want a fifty word essay on one theory you have about why banning books in schools is wrong." I had missed the question Emmett has asked, but knew he hadn't really called her over to ask one.
He wanted to torment me, I knew it. I could see it on his face as his eyes flicked toward me. He had yet to notice Jasper, if he had, I was sure he'd have rushed the teacher away.
"What if I don't think it's wrong?" My eyes flicked back to Cassidy and I could see the annoyance written all over her face.
"Really, Mr. McCarty is…"
"Excuse me Miss Swan, but if you don't mind, I think I could explain this to my rather thick headed brother." Jasper's voice came out smoother then I had thought it would and earned him a curious stare from us all. "I haven't had your class yet, it's my next period, but I think I can gather the gist of what you're wanting."
"Thank you." My attention flew back to Cassidy in those two words. Her tone had changed drastically changed. The annoyance had dropped out of it, instead it was calm but Jasper hadn't sent out any calming vibes. She had a smile back on her face and for a moment I could have sworn that Jasper had mirrored it, but that was before she started waving her hands as if to dismiss something she hadn't said.
"Mr. McCarty, allow your brother to explain it or come by after school and I can discuss it then." Once again, her mood had changed, only this time it was rushed and she was stepping for the door before she'd ever finished.
Once she was out the door I turned my attention back to Emmett, sending him a glare that had him rolling. As much as I loved my brother, there were times when I wanted to murder him. His sense of humor was getting worse with every passing decade.
"I just wanted to ask her about my essay." His smirk told a different story and Edward had to tighten his arm around me to keep me from jumping across the table.
"She was going to try to murder him, too." Jasper's voice was distant and the look on his face told us he was thinking. "At least she felt like she was."
"She thought about it," Edward laughed. "She's amusing when she's not trying to figure out what she'll say next. Still, calling her over here didn't prove anything."
"I'm sticking to my essay excuse." With that, Emmett got up and patted me on the head, making me glare at him more. "If she is kin to you, Bells, I say we keep her. She could be fun."
I fought to roll my eyes and lost. Lunch was almost over and I didn't have time to try and kick his ass for it anyway. Plus, thanks to his little joke, I had more to think about, like how she had clearly became dazzled by a simple sentence from Jasper, when Emmett hadn't even registered in that way with her. I glanced at Alice and Jasper, who were bent toward each other whispering.
"You don't want to know," Edward whispered before pushing me gently out of the booth. Our next class was on the other side of the campus and we had to go or we'd miss it.
Jasper's POV
Like most vampires, I could remember very little about my human life, except for the last few months as a solider. But I'd always gathered that those memories stuck because most of the days before I was turned were very organized and the same. Nothing changed for me after that until I walked into that café and saw my amazing Alice. My eternal life had meaning and that meaning was her. I would follow her to hell and back, and I'd believed more then once that I was going to have to. The very thought of loosing her brought on a pain that I had never felt in the two hundred and thirteen years that I had been walking on earth. I believed there was nothing in the world that could compare to the way I felt about her…I had never had anything prove me differently.
Sitting around the lunch table with my siblings, I could feel their worry and anxiousness washing over me in waves. Alice's feelings were enhanced because she was trying to force herself to see something she knew she couldn't. As long as the woman, Cassidy, had not made the decision to be part of our lives as anything but a teacher there would be no future for her to see. I had pulled Alice close to me when I felt her frustration reach a breaking point. I hated it when she got herself wrapped up this tightly in something. I hated seeing Bella's vacant stare, knowing that even if I tried to calm her worries they would only come back once I was gone. In this situation what I could do to help would only be temporary and what they all needed was a reliable solution, which I couldn't give them.
I had yet to take my English class and see the now infamous Cassidy Swan. My interest was peaked of course, someone holding the name of one of my family members was rare added in with the worry that even playful Emmett was feeling and I knew this was big. I listened silently, focusing more on comforting Alice then what they were saying, as they discussed the idea of her being the secondary by product of a union of Charlie and Sue Clearwater, which, of course, would have been the woman's father. It was interesting to think of, and possible in more ways then I was sure they were thinking, but as Alice trembled underneath my hands at the force of her attempting something she knew wouldn't happen, I had to block them out.
"Please stop, darling, you're only upsetting yourself more," I whispered into her ear as my hand slid up and down her arm.
Even though I knew she had heard me, she ignored me. It killed me that she was upsetting herself like this. I understood, though, Bella was her best friend, her sister in more ways then most could understand, this was important, and not just to Bella but the whole family. I continued to whisper to her, hoping that along with the calming vibes I was sending her would help the process some. I didn't catch onto what Emmett had done until I heard a different voice.
"Yes, Mr. McCarty?" That voice had me looking up from Alice and into a pair of dark brown eyes that looked almost black.
This was Cassidy, the woman that was pushing my amazing Alice over the edge and causing my family to walk on egg shells. I shouldn't have thought of staring at her, but something in that voice, something I couldn't figure out, caught me and dragged my eyes to watch every movement she made. Without thinking I latched onto the emotions coming from her body, so many more then the ones her face was showing. There was the frustration that Emmett had brought on, and sense of panic that I assumed came from the rush she'd been in on going toward the door. Those were just the top layer, I sat up straighter, intent on her as I dug through each strand of emotion, amazed that she was able to stand in front of us and not weep from everything I felt. I know I would have been weeping had I been able to.
There was anger, more anger then just what she felt at Emmett. There was worry and sadness. There was a sense of anxiousness and annoyance, but at the base of it all was something else that tore through me, right to the very center of my being. Pain. Deep inside her there was a pain so agonizing I had to get her away before it pulled me in too far and I wouldn't be able to get out. This woman's pain could be my undoing and that was before I had ever gotten a whiff of her blood, which clouded into my brain in the small seconds after I unraveled her emotions. It was intoxicating, but I could control my thirst for it, at least.
She still needed to get away from me before that pain drove me insane.
"Excuse me, Miss Swan, but if you don't mind I think I could explain this to my rather thick headed brother." The words poured out by themselves, the only thought going through my mind was for her to leave. "I haven't had your class yet, it's my next period, but I think I can gather the gist of what you're wanting."
Her thank you came with another surprise. Those dark eyes looked at me and everything around me froze. How could one human hold so much pain inside them that it leaked out their eyes and no one seemed to notice? I couldn't comprehend it, but it was there and it tore at me more. There was no way I was going to be able to stand the next hour with her. Her pain seemed to scream out at me now that I had found it, begging for someone to make it go away.
I stared as she spoke again to Emmett, her words not registering to me and then stared at the space she'd been as she walked off. I only came out of my daze when Emmett moved off the bench and Alice pulled my face to look at her.
"What was that?" Her small voice pulled me completely out of the pain that had enveloped me from the moment Cassidy had stepped up to the table.
"I'm not sure. She's…she's…it's like she's dying inside but that's not possible at least not from the reason I felt." I stared into Alice's eyes, but didn't really see them. My head was jumping between the now and the look in Cassidy's dark eyes.
Edward pushed Bella up and they left. Alice needed to leave to or she'd be late, instead she sat there, staring back at me while I tried to work through everything.
"She's in pain. No one notices it." My voice was too low for any human to hear it.
"Oh, Jasper." Alice's tiny arms went around my neck, knowing without me telling her exactly why I was having such a hard time.
God, I loved this woman. There was no one who could understand me better. I didn't even have to explain any farther and it did help with her hugging me. I forgot why I was now more worried then the rest of my family.
Deep inside, I knew that the pain I had just felt coming from Cassidy Swan was only the tip of the iceberg for me. Her eyes would haunt me until I tried to do something for her, which I had never tried to do with a human in my entire immortal life.
I was scared.