Chapter 4: NAQ's

Jessica lived in a double storey suburban home, with creamy walls and vintage paintings of shoes. The place itself was very neat and ordered, and I was met with two Chihuahua's –Rocky and Ronald- who barked like mad when I touched them. Jessica blabbered the whole time, about her job, her college, what she could remember from school. Then the topics started wandering to clothes, diets and... Behold. Boys. Uh oh.

'No boys!? At all!? Absolutely!? Really!?' Jessica was aghast. So what if my dating history was blank. There was no law to date. I'd never dated in my... oh. Wasn't there one? 'Who was it?' Jessica shot straight away, 'I know that look. Who? How many?'
'Only one, I assure you. Only once, in my 12th and final school year. He was a month older than me...' I started slowly. 'Hair? Eyes? Body? Smile? Name? Details girl!' she urged excitedly. 'He was sort of my best friend you know,' I said, getting annoyed, 'he still is.'
'You keep in contact with your boyfriend after splitting? How do you manage that?'
'We're best friends!' I reminded her for maybe the fifth time so far.

'Okay... so what was his name?' I sighed. Better to just get this over with.
'Cedric'
'Hair colour"'
'Dirty blonde, messy'
'Eyes?'
'Hazel'
'Body?'
'Jessica! How could you!' Jessica stared at me with her pleading eyes. They looked very false, but I couldn't be bothered, so I just mumbled, 'Dunno. Never saw it'
'You never saw your boyfriend's body!!!'
'He was my best friend too! That would have been awkward.'

'OK,' she was thoughtful, then went back into question mode. 'So what did you do?'
'The first official date was at the movies. We saw a thriller. It was really cool. There was this guy...'
'Then?' interrupted Jessica, and I frowned. 'Then we went ice skating, and then a party.'
'Ooh! Did anyone get drunk? Cedric?'
'Well... his drink was mixed with alcohol, but we usually don't drink. He did get slightly tipsy. That was the last date I think...'
'What happened?' she asked in a scandalised tone. I started to feel uncomfortable sharing this.
'Nothing bad. He... um... kissed me. He was drunk so I pushed him off easily and he slept. Wicked hangover too'
'How was it? The kiss?'
'Jessica! You never ask those kinds of questions! What is wrong with you?' Jessica just stared at me with those eyes. It failed completely, so she changed tactics.

'Please-tell-me-because-I-won't-tell-anyone-and-your-secrets-safe-with-me-and-I'm-the-best-secret-keeper-in-this-town-and-if-you-can't-trust-me-you-can't-trust-anyone-and...' It would have worked, if I hadn't once been the most annoying girl in the world myself. Still, I wanted to get out of here, so I just gave up. 'Ok. What do you want?'

'How was the kiss?'
'It was too quick to be counted as a kiss. Just three unexpected seconds of alcoholic tongue and-'
'He put in his tongue! This just gets even better!'
'Oops. I never said that. Look, he was drunk so it doesn't mat-'
'Don't say it doesn't matter. That's crucial! Do you still have feeling for him?'
'No!'
'Does he still like you?'
'No!'
'Is there anyone else in-'
'No!'
'Can you-'
'Look. If all you want is gossip, go get a magazine because I have better things to do!' I shouted and then ran out to my car. I started the engine before I was fully in. Jessica came out at the last second, but I'd already stomped down on the pedal. I flew about three kilometres before I slowed down, and then I realised I had no idea where I was. I stopped the car, and surveyed the area. I was in the middle of a forest, and every direction looked the same.

'Great. Lost in the woods in Forks. I'm the next Bella Swan. This is utterly stupid!' I swore at myself for the idiocy, and drove on. Soon, I got to a point where the car couldn't move on due to the density of the trees, so I –very stupidly- got out and started hiking.

The meaningless hike was, I had to admit, fun, but soon I began to get bored. I was about to give up when I saw two small squirrels, and I stopped in my tracks. I loved animals, and I was so close to them! They were chattering anxiously, one running this way and that, the other holding a small nut. I took a step closer to get a better view.

Suddenly, they started running. Not away from me, towards me. I was taken by surprise. Animals did like me more than usual, but not so easily. But the squirrels ran straight passed me, as if some invisible danger was ahead. I hadn't moved at all.

Then, I realised that the squirrel's weren't the only ones vacating the place. A jaybird was flying somewhat to my right. It was unusual, but it could also have been coincidental. Things like this always happened in nature. I was curious however, to see what may have been scaring them, and trudged on.

I was being very quiet, but only thirty seconds had passed before I felt stupid, sneaking around in the bush. I was just making myself even more lost than I was in the first place – without a car. I turned back in the general direction of where I'd come from, it looked exactly the same.

Damn! Now I was really lost. I looked back to where the animals had supposedly been fleeing from, when I saw a light in the distance. A small feeling of relief washed over me. I hurried forward, the light getting larger and larger. I was almost there, when –thanks to a gnarly tree trunk- I tripped over, and hurtled into a meadow.

At first I was too dazed to see anything. My head hurt badly, it throbbed too. I felt liquid and raised my hand to my scalp. Sure enough, when I brought it down, it glistened with blood.

I heard a gasp, and suddenly realised I wasn't alone. My eyes scanned the meadow and my breath hitched. Everything around me seemed to fade away until they were the only two things I saw.

A pair of golden eyes.

I felt darkness crawling from the sides of my vision, but I tried to push it away. Now was not the time to faint! I held on to my consciousness, and then I turned and ran. I ran as far and fast as I could. The darkness continued to crawl, but I didn't stop. I just ran, as the circles of green shrank, and then it was gone.

I succumbed, and fell to the forest floor.

Jasper

'Very nice Jazz. Now can we go?'
Rosalie laughed, the nudged me. 'Come on. They're not coming. I bet you!'
'Have you picked up Emmett's habit now?' joked Jake. Rosalie elbowed him, and he gasped in pain. 'Are we going or not? Mum and Dad aren't coming. Even ask Alice,' Renesmee tapped her foot impatiently. Alice nodded from beside Jacob. 'Fine. We'll go. They'll hunt on the way back anyway,' I gave in. No sooner had I said this, but everybody dispersed. 'Come on! Let's go hunting!' cheered Emmett and we followed.

Some time later, 'Alice? When are Edward and Bella coming back?' I asked.
'Umm... soon. They're just discussing us, and a swim they want to organise, and Tanya's visit coming up... oh. And that girl,' she replied, playing with her elk.
'The girl?' I continued, 'the one we heard screaming on the highway?'
'Yeah. She reads a lot too. Modern and classics. She also bumped into Jess today, found out about all us. But she doesn't really believe it, just like others,' Alice said pointedly.
'How do you know?'
'Edward was spying a bit, and told me to watch as well. Going to Seattle to get a computer, received Gym membership, went to Jess's house...' her eyes glazed, 'now she storming out angrily. Wonder what happened? She reminds me of someone though...' Alice trailed off and stared absentmindedly at the sun. Her skin glittered, her full eyes shining. I twirled a bit of her hair, and she slapped my hand playfully.
'Come on. I'm full,' I said, and we called the others to head back, Renesmee and Jacob punching each other, trying to see who would say "Ouch" first.