~.~.~.~.~
He could do this. He could definitely do this. Never mind how good they all smelled. Never mind the anxious glances his friends were giving him. Never mind the fact that he hadn't tasted the sweet blood of a human in years. And years. Long, agonizing years. He wouldn't breathe if that were what it came down to, no matter how uncomfortable it was for him. He wasn't going to hurt anyone.
He no longer had the summer to help him escape from the tempting scent of the humans' blood. When the school year had ended, he didn't have to be surrounded by them, tempted by them all the time.
But now summer was over.
Someone tapped on the glass of the window in the silver Volvo he sat in. "Are you coming, Jasper?" Alice said, smiling kindly at him.
Jasper nodded and, after taking another moment to compose himself, climbed out of the car. Alice smiled at him as she wrapped her arm around his waist, leading him towards the building. They followed Edward and Emmett through the doors of the school as the bell sounded, signaling that class was about to start.
"You'll be fine," Alice whispered encouragingly into his ear before disappearing in the opposite direction. Jasper nodded to himself and walked into the door at his left; his first class of the day: Calculus.
He held his breath as he searched for a seat, not daring to take a breath. There were three open desks, all side by side, in the back of the room. He walked smoothly to the one next to the window and sat down.
As the teacher, Mr. Dosee, walked into the room, Jasper chanced a small breath. Then a deeper one. For a moment, the scent of the girl in front of him captivated his senses; her blood had a tangy aroma, and would no doubt be most satisfying.
Jasper shifted in his seat and gripped the sides of his desk as he tried not to pounce on her.
And then the intensity of his appetite lessened, until it was perfectly manageable.
He stopped holding onto his desk and took another breath. This time the scent tempted him even less.
"Okay, class. Today will be papers, papers, and more papers," Mr. Dosee as he passed out a class syllabus.
Jasper smiled contentedly, paying no attention to his teacher. He could do this.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
He sat in between Emmett and Alice at the lunch table. He spun an apple on the surface of his tray and looked lazily about the room.
"So, you were okay today? Around them, I mean," Emmett asked Jasper, motioning to the cafeteria full of students. Jasper rolled his eyes. Did they think he was completely incapable of any self-control?
"I was fine," he mumbled, now paying full attention to the apple in front of him. Emmett grunted, which made Jasper think how Emmett always looked when he grunted: all brawn, no brain.
Edward chuckled, and Jasper looked at him. "Too true," Edward said to him. Jasper looked away without smiling. Edward was reading his mind now? Did no one trust that he had control over himself? Edward glanced at him.
"I haven't smelled one person that was truly tempting," Jasper reassured, speaking too quick for anyone else to hear him.
"Yet," Alice said, casually.
"What do you mean, Alice?" Jasper asked, slightly annoyed that now Alice didn't trust him.
"You'll see by the end of lunch."
Jasper sighed and returned to looking around the room. His head snapped to the door into the cafeteria from inside the school slammed open, and an angry looking girl walked quickly to the table at which her friends sat as she said loudly, "They messed up my entire schedule!" She shook her head, slightly amused, as she set her things down. She did not sit down, but leaned over to take an apple out of her friend, Jessica's hand. She remained standing as she took a bite and continued talking to her friends.
Jasper knew her. Or knew of her. Anouk van der Clare. He almost hadn't recognized her as she walked in, as her chocolate hair was in its natural waves instead of the stick straight style it was constantly in last year. She intrigued Jasper. She was human, he was sure, and yet she could have given Rosalie a run for her money for beauty, and she was as close as anyone, let alone a human, could get to Alice's grace. She was a dancer.
She smiled and her face glowed with happiness as she laughed. Jasper watched with is head bowed down, as he rested his arms on the table. Jasper had seen perfection in his kind quite often, but had never even heard of it in a human.
"She's not thinking about you." Jasper looked away from Anouk and turned his attention to Edward when he interrupted his thoughts. They were sitting alone at the table now; he hadn't even noticed the others leave. "Or any of us," Edward said, shrugging. "In case you were wondering."
Jasper raised an eyebrow. "I wasn't. But why would she be?"
Edward shrugged again and chuckled. "A lot of the girls here think about us."
"That's an invasion of privacy," Jasper pointed out, smiling slightly.
Edward laughed. "Like you wouldn't do it if you could." Jasper smiled and shook his head at his friend. Edward shrugged. Jasper's eyes guided themselves back to the girl as she fixed her orange headband with an annoyed expression. "She's thinking out how she can avoid helping her mom sort through pictures tonight. She is going to go to the dance studio and 'lose track of time'."
"So . . .?"
"You looked like you wanted to know."
"I didn't."
Edward looked at the can of unopened soda in his hands. "Sure," he said, obviously not believing what Jasper had said. "You're very interested in her; I know that for a fact. Not that you should be."
Jasper made a face and shook his head. "I'm not that interested in her," he said. "No more than you or the others."
Edward looked intensely at Jasper, reading his mind, no doubt. Jasper didn't bother to try to hide anything. Edward took a breath and leaned back in his chair. "Okay, I believe you."
"You should learn to trust people."
Edward looked at the clock. Jasper followed his gaze, glancing at Anouk as she picked up her bag and began to walk away from her friends.
"I do trust people," Edward said, amused. "But you're not a person."
"Ha, ha," Jasper said sarcastically as he threw the apple on the tray gently at Edward. Edward caught it after it hit him in the chest and glared before throwing the apple back with more force. Jasper caught it easily.
"Nice catch," Edward said, slightly sarcastically; their lightning fast reflexes could not impress each other. Edward smirked at Jasper. "We'll see who's really better at catching during the next thunderstorm," he challenged.
But Jasper wasn't paying attention anymore. He took a deep breath and let the sweet smell fill his lungs. He slowly turned to face the door next to the table they sat at; it led outside. The door was open, letting in a breeze, and in the doorway picking up a book was a girl who had dropped all her things. He took another breath and smelled the sweetest blood he had ever smelled. He could almost taste it. He wanted to taste it; it would be like candy. She was so close . . . all he had to do was reach out and . . .
Realizing what was happening, Jasper quickly stopped breathing. The girl stood up slowly, and caught Jasper's gaze. She smiled slightly at him and walked out the door, letting it close behind her.
Of course it would be her with the sweetest blood in the school, Jasper thought angrily. He watched Anouk walk farther from the cafeteria. He was hungry.
He felt a firm hand on his shoulder. He slowly looked over his shoulder at Edward, who was standing behind him now with a focused stare. "Let's go into the forest . . ." he said hesitantly and quietly. "Get this sudden urge taken care of."
"Can't it wait until after school?" Jasper said absentmindedly as he turned to look in the direction Anouk had walked.
Edward also looked in that direction, not that Jasper noticed. "No. Now."
Jasper sighed and stood up. Edward led him out of the cafeteria and to the parking lot, Jasper occasionally glancing back in the direction of Anouk. Alice was waiting for them in front of the Volvo. She smiled at them.
"Ready for lunch? I'm starving."
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
They all stood around the car, looking in opposite directions. Jasper felt better today; more confident that he wouldn't feel as tempted as yesterday, especially since he fed yesterday. Even as the students passed now he felt fine.
"We're going to class," Rosalie said as she and Emmett said as they walked towards the school.
"We should, too," Edward said once they had walked away. Alice nodded.
"I was late yesterday," she said. She smiled at Jasper. "Coming?"
Jasper looked at his pale reflection in the car window. He could do this. "No," he said to Alice as he turned to her. "Not quite yet."
Edward looked at him with a clenched jaw. Alice smiled at him. "It's fine, Edward." She linked arms with Edward and, with a wave to Jasper, hopped away to the school.
Jasper leaned against the car, making sure he was completely ready for today. Yesterday, when he saw Anouk, he was so close to . . . well, he didn't even want to think about it. Now he breathed easily while all the students walked through the parking lot, on their way to class. He waited until it was almost empty before he moved from his spot. He slowly made his way through the parking lot. He shoved his hands in the pockets of his jacket as he walked, looking at the sky. Alice said the weather would be nice this weekend, but it certainly didn't look like that was going to happen. He knew better than to doubt her, though.
He collided with something, sending whatever it was tumbling to the ground, papers flying everywhere. Jasper instantly became guarded, a reflex now when he was around people. "Oh, shoot!" he heard the thing, obviously a person, say.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Jasper said as he bent down to help pick up the papers. He breathed in as he bent down, catching the faint scent of sweetness. He slowly looked up at whom he had knocked down, and immediately held his breath.
This cannot be happening, he thought.
"You shouldn't be sorry," Anouk said, her nose slightly pink from the cold as she picked up the papers, smiling. "I wasn't watching where I was walking."
"Nor was I," he said, handing her the papers he had collected. She smiled.
"Well, it looks like we'll just have to share the blame," she said smiling as they stood. She either didn't notice or wasn't bothered by Jasper's pained expression; Jasper couldn't tell. He was too busy trying not to breathe. "Thanks," she said as she took the papers in his hand.
He nodded once. She smiled. The wind blew against her, making her hair blow out away from her face. Jasper breathed quickly before the wind stopped.
"I'm Anouk," she said suddenly, not moving from the spot. Jasper nodded.
"I know." She gave him a suspicious look, but was smiling nonetheless. The final bell rang for class to begin. She nearly dropped her things again as she quickly looked at the small watch she was wearing.
"Oh!" she gasped. She took a few steps back. "I'll see you around, Jasper!" She turned around and began walking quickly into the school, struggling to keep her folder and papers from flying away.
Jasper took a few deep breaths before following her into the school.
Odd, she knew who he was. That shocked Jasper, considering she had never acknowledged his existence before. Jasper shook his head to himself. But of course everyone knows who the Cullen's are, Jasper thought sarcastically as he took his seat in the back of his class and looked out the window. No matter how hard we try to blend in.
Mr. Dosee walked in the classroom then, greeting the class with a nod. He set his papers down and walked back to the door. "First, and only, rule of my class: as soon as I shut this door it's closed until the bell rings for the end of class. So no going to the bathroom, no getting a drink of water, and, most importantly, no tardies."
He took the stopper out from under the door, and it slowly began to shut. "Now, we're all going to get to know each other a little better. Everyone will stand and say their name and—"
He was cut off as someone quickly slid through the closing door just before it shut completely.
"Ms. van der Clare," Mr. Dosee said, amused. Jasper immediately looked away from the window at Anouk standing at the front of the class, out of breath, cheeks rosy from running. "You should know better than anyone not to be late in this class, seeing as you had me last year for Trig."
She grinned sheepishly and handed him her schedule. "I've just been added into the class," she explained.
He glanced at the schedule before handing it back. "That you have. . ." he said as he searched the classroom. His eyes landed on the two empty desks in the back. "Well, you have a choice. You can either sit next to Ms. Redfield," he motioned to a short blonde girl who sat two empty seats away from Jasper, "or you can sit next to Mr. Cullen."
Jasper closed his eyes and exhaled, annoyed. Just his luck. He is being unintentionally stalked by the girl with the most tempting blood in the school.
When he opened his eyes, there was Anouk, hesitantly watching Jasper as she sat down in the seat next to him.
"I'm sorry if you don't want me to sit by you . . ." she whispered, slightly amused as Mr. Dosee continued talking. Jasper felt her confusion as she looked at him. "But Madison Redfield has hated me since the fourth grade."
Jasper didn't respond immediately. "I don't not want you to sit by me," he said quietly and emotionlessly before returning his gaze to the view out the window, not breathing again.
"Looks like I'll be seeing you around more than I thought," she said, happily, though Jasper knew she wasn't really. She was still confused about his standoffish attitude. He was glad that she wasn't offended or angry, though. He didn't want her to not like him.
Let's see how angry she is at you when you try to feed on her blood, he thought darkly to himself.
Though he looked calm and disinterested, Jasper panicked internally. How was he supposed to make it through the year without attacking anyone if she sat next to him?
He looked to the front of the class. He had to try. Maybe having her close would help him learn to better resist his lust for blood. It was dangerous, but he had to try.
Jasper sighed quietly. This is going to be a long year.
~.~.~.~.~
Hey! So here is chapter one. I know, I know. Jasper is a little more . . . morose and closed off in this chapter than in the previous one. But that will change as the story goes on. Oh. Comment? I like feedback. Good feedback to encourage me, and constructive criticism to help me improve :) So, please gimme something to work with! What would you like to see happen? What are your predictions? What do you like, what don't you like? Questions, comments, concerns? You get it. Hoped you liked.