~.~.~.~.~

Jasper watched her shut the door of her old car as Alice rambled on about nothing to him. She sighed and opened the door again, only to close it with more force, as Hallie Fredlen walked over to her. Jasper watched her stroll through the parking lot and disappear through the school doors.

If only he could talk to her without worrying about hurting her.

"Jasper," Alice said happily. "What is it about that girl? She's got you under her spell." She gasped, feigning shock. "Maybe she's a witch!"

Jasper smirked slightly and leaned against the Volvo, folding his arms across his chest. "I'm under no one's spell, Alice."

Alice sighed. "Sure you aren't," she said sarcastically. "That's why you have been listening to intently to what I have been saying."

He stood up from the car and began walking slowly alongside Alice to the school, where he became tenser. He shrugged, hoping to mislead Alice. "She smells good."

She rolled her eyes. "Maybe she does, but I think it's more than that . . ." So much for the misleading plan.

Jasper growled silently to himself; it was utterly and completely ridiculous for him to feel anything besides hunger toward a human. Anything else just makes things complicated. Besides, it was not possible for a human and a vampire to associate. Not like that, anyway. It would end badly. Very badly. Especially with someone with blood at sweet at hers smelled . . .

"She's human," Jasper said quietly, as if that gave him a reason why Alice's assumptions were wrong.

"I don't think that matters." Jasper looked at her skeptically as she bounced happily and gracefully beside him. She made a face, agreeing with Jasper's skeptical expression. "Well, not in this case, at least! I think it's cute."

Jasper rolled his eyes. "Yeah, really cute. Adorable," he said sarcastically. She smiled brightly and parted ways with Jasper. When she left, he tensed even more; no one would be able to hold him back should he become overwhelmed with the smell of the blood pumping through the veins of his classmates. He walked into his Calculus class, which was moderately full. As he walked to his desk, he noticed Anouk leaning out the window. She saw him, and quickly leaned back in and closed it tightly before turning to walk to her seat.

"Why did you . . .?" Jasper asked quietly before she sat down.

"You like the window closed, don't you?" She smirked at him and plopped into her seat. He slowly sat down in his, confused. He turned to look at her but she was busy doodling on the edge of her homework, tapping her foot to song she was singing in her head.

Mr. Dosee soon called the class to attention, but Jasper, who was trying to keep himself rigid and tense to control himself (though he found that not being relaxed around her was difficult) continued to look at Anouk. "Do you enjoy it?" he asked her quietly.

She slowly looked over at him. "Reviewing logarithms?" she asked glancing quickly at the board.

"No, the weather. The cold," Jasper corrected.

She looked out the window for a moment and smiled slightly. "You don't really have a choice when you live in Forks, do you?" Jasper smiled, tensely.

"Ms. van der Clare, Mr. Cullen," Mr. Dosee said sternly. "Please?"

"Sorry," Anouk said, and faced forward. Jasper did too, but he couldn't help but glance over at Anouk as she continued to doodle. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, but did not turn fully to look at him. And so continued the rest of the class. Jasper would look over at her, and she would pretend not to notice. Once, he had looked over at the wrong time; she was looking out the window. Catching his gaze full on she raised an eyebrow and smiled, not knowing what else to do. She didn't look in that direction again.

Towards the middle of class, as Mr. Dosee was going over the homework from the previous night, Jasper chanced another glimpse at Anouk. She pursed her lips and Jasper tensed more than he already was.

"Are you going to stare at me for the rest of class?" she said, not turning to look at him until she finished speaking. Jasper would've blushed if he could, he had no doubt. But she didn't seem angry, or peeved. She was smiling and shaking her head slightly in amusement. "It makes me self conscious."

Jasper smiled tightly and shook his head, embarrassed. He tried to get through all the different emotions in the room, frustrated, confused, stressed, to figure out how she was really feeling; he had learned by now that she smiles when she is angry or vexed. He felt of tinge of annoyance from her, when he realized he must have been staring in order to focus on her feelings. He quickly shook himself away from his concentration on her, and tried to focus on the lesson, even though he had learned it many times.

The bell eventually rang and the students gathered up their things to leave the room. Jasper slowly put his things away and watched Anouk glide toward the door. She paused in the doorway and looked over her shoulder at him. Her lips pulled upwards briefly before she slipped out.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Why?

That was what was going through Jasper's head all day. At school, during lunch, in the car, when he walked through the doors to his home, and now in his room. He was still tense, as if she was there and he might attack her at any second.

Why, of all people, did the girl with the sweetest smelling blood in the school sit next to him? Why was she smiling at him from over her shoulder? Why was she so graceful and beautiful? Why did he care?

Jasper sighed as he lay down across his black couch, and wiped his face with his hands.

Why did she seem to captivate him with every movement she made? Why was he interested in this human? It had to be her blood. There was no other way to explain it. Unless he had gone insane.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Maybe he was insane . . .

He let out an exasperated breath and angrily stood up. He couldn't sit still, which was unusual for him. He walked out of his room and down the stairs. He silently walked into the living room but stopped before he entered the kitchen, where he heard everyone talking.

"How did school go today?" Carlisle asked.

"No one knows our secret, so I would say it was well," Rosalie said. Jasper heard her sit on the counter.

"And how was he?" Esme asked in a softer tone, though she knew it would make no difference how quiet she talked. Vampires had extremely good hearing.

"He was fine." That was Alice, speaking defensively about Jasper.

"I don't know, Alice . . ." Emmett's deep voice interjected. "I'm sort of concerned."

"What?" Esme said, sharply. "Why?"

Alice sighed, no doubt glaring at Emmett. "He has been rather intrigued by a girl . . ."

"Oh . . ." Esme said in a worried tone. Jasper fumed. To talk about him when he wasn't there was one thing, but to be so concerned and have such little confidence in his ability to control himself was insulting. True, sometimes he doubted that ability himself, but that didn't mean they should, especially when they pretended they believed in him!

"She's sweet."

"You know her well?" Carlisle asked curiously.

"No." Alice paused. "She smells sweet."

"Like dessert," Emmett added. Jasper felt everyone tense as they all went silent. He wondered if Carlisle would agree to let him drop out of school. It's not as if he needed it. And by the direction this conversation seemed to be going, and the tense silence that followed Emmett's comment, it wouldn't surprise him if Carlisle made him quit school.

"This is serious," Esme said softly. "What should we do?"

Alice scoffed. Jasper noticed she wasn't in her usual happy attitude, and was slightly angry. "I don't think we need to do anything," she said as she moved across the room.

Edward made a noise. "And let him get closer to her? Let him destroy the family? Really, Alice? He wants her blood," Edward exclaimed exasperatedly as anger reverberated off of him. Jasper could hardly bare the heavy amounts of stress in the room.

Jasper contemplated leaving his stationary spot in the living room. Either to his bedroom where he wouldn't have to feel all of the building tension between his family, or into the kitchen so he could calm them down.

"But he also wants to be around her for other reasons, Edward. It's not all about the blood," Alice said, calmly, though she was anything but. She was also stressed, but Jasper was sure that she was more worried about convincing the others that he was fine than she was about him slipping up.

"He won't be able to control himself," Rosalie interjected, matter-of-factly.

Alice let out a few breaths, angrily. "I can't believe what I am hearing!" she said quietly but sharply. "Jasper is having a hard enough time as it is! He doesn't need us to be constantly worrying about him slipping up. He needs us to have a little faith in him, so that maybe he will have some confidence in himself. If he thinks we don't think he can do it, why would he even try?" Alice was very angry now. Jasper was having a hard time picturi ng her small, happy face with an angry scowl, though he appreciated that she was standing up for him. "He won't hurt her."

"Alice, your visions can change . . ." Edward pointed out doubtfully.

"I'm not saying it because I had a vision. I'm saying it because I think he will be able to control himself enough around her. She interests him too much for him to hurt her," Alice said confidently. "I can see it in his face."

"Alice," Carlisle said calmly, though Jasper felt the stress emanating from him as well, "We all know Jasper has the hardest time controlling his . . . hunger . . ."

"Not you, too, Carlisle," Alice whined. "I thought at least you would be on my side."

The tension between everyone was getting too strong for Jasper to handle. He closed his eyes for a moment, before making his decision and walking into the kitchen. The tension immediately disappeared, though the family still looked worriedly from face to face; they knew he heard.

He walked passed them and opened the cupboard. "I'm not going to attack her, and I'm not interested in her," he lied quietly as he reached for a glass. He walked to the sink to fill it with water. "Yes, her blood is sweet, but it's nothing I can't handle." He turned off the tap and turned towards his family. "I don't need anyone to believe in me, because I know I won't hurt anyone, but I would appreciate it if, Edward, you stopped reading my mind to see if I am going to attack someone; Alice, you don't look into the future to see if I expose our secret; and the rest of you, you don't talk about me on this subject anymore. Okay?"

They watched him guiltily as he walked out of the room with the cup of water, and listened as he shut his door calmly. He poured the glass of water into a pot that held a small plant on the corner table. He set the empty glass down next to it and sighed.

He knew almost everything he told them was a lie. He was starting to feel things he shouldn't towards her. Her blood was too sweet for him to handle, for long anyway. And he didn't think he could do it.

As Jasper thought the words, every feeling he had towards her intensified. Because he wanted what he couldn't have.

But it wasn't as if he could just ignore her. She did interest him too much, as Alice had said. But what could he do? He was too afraid to get close to her, to anyone, but he wanted to be around her. He wanted to suck all the sweet blood out of her, and also to walk with her, arms linked. He couldn't have it either way; either he would slip up in his diet, killing her and exposing the family, or he would attack her if they were ever together alone, killing her and exposing the family. It was a lose-lose situation. No matter what the circumstance, everything he and his family strived to do would be ruined.

But he knew he couldn't ignore her. And if he had to, he would watch her from afar for the rest of her life.

Surprised by his intensified emotions, Jasper quickly shook his head and rushed out of his room, and through the front door. Some hunting would help him to forget about it. He didn't know what was going on his head, or why he was doing this to himself, but he did know that it was truly unethical and sick. He had to put an end to this. But he wasn't sure if he wanted to, or could.

~.~.~.~.~

Okay guys. I like the next chapter. So stay with me! :) Thanks to everyone who reviewed! It encourages me to write well. So keep 'em comin. Also, I just thought I'd say this: I love Jasper! He's the best! Aw, what a cutie. Okay. Just had to get that out there.

Questions about anything? Comments? Concerns? You know what to do.

P.S. I'm already ¾ done with the next chapter ! Woo!