Hi! I know - long time, no post. I'm sorry. My writing is kind of at the mercy of both my schedule and my mood/inspiration, so sometimes I go a span of time without writing anything...and then I'll write a bunch in a huge burst. And other times, I can stay consistent over a long period of time. Really, there's no rhyme or reason to it. But as I've said, I will not abandon this story and I haven't. In fact, here's the next chapter for you. Enjoy! :)

Chapter Five

Jasper

While I hadn't exactly made any monumental strides forward in the endeavor with my singer, I felt accomplished enough to not dread school the next day. In fact, I daresay my spirits were high as we drove into the parking lot. I could ease my way closer to the girl, gain physical proximity day by day until I was comfortable enough with her scent to actually interact with her. The idea wasn't any different than the original plan, but now that the first step had been taken and execution had begun I could see it working out. Slowly.

The emotions of my wife were not quite as light, however. I tried to catch her eye as we exited Edward's Volvo, but she shook her head. Apparently this wasn't something she was willing to discuss just yet. But I did see her and Edward exchanging glances—Edward appearing perturbed when Alice gave him the same response she'd given me.

My logical mind tried to piece together what could be wrong. We were hanging around the car in the parking lot, soaking up as much fresh air as we could before we had to make our way inside with all the humans for the day. Hopefully we weren't too conspicuous with our comfort outside in the cold; there had been snowfall overnight, and the air was now crisp with a bitter chill. We didn't feel it, but the humans were all bundled up to withstand it.

Emmett and Rosalie had been murmuring to each other, but then Rosalie snapped, "What is going on?"

I turned my gaze to her, but she wasn't asking me. Her glare was waffling between Alice and Edward. So she'd picked up on their tension too.

Alice shrugged. "I don't know yet. I have a bad feeling, though."

"Maybe we should go home…" Edward suggested, eyes flickering briefly in my direction.

"No," I said resolutely. "I did well yesterday. I'm not going to back down now. The only way to go is forward, and skipping days when it's not necessary won't help."

Edward didn't look so sure, but Alice nodded in agreement. "I don't think this has anything to do with Jasper's control, Edward." Her tone was slightly chastising. "You should have more faith in him than that."

Our brother frowned. "I can't imagine what else would—"

"Shut up, Edward," Rosalie interrupted with a huff. "You don't know everything. There's five of us and hundreds of humans. Assuming Jasper is the cause of any problems here is rude."

My lips quirked at Rosalie warning Edward against being rude, but I wasn't going to speak up and point out that particular irony.

Emmett, however, was not as wise. He snorted. "Rosie."

She narrowed her gaze at him. "What." It wasn't a question; it was a dare.

But her husband was fearless. "You're telling Eddie boy not to be rude. Really?"

She slapped his arm. "Yes, I am. Jasper is our brother. We're supposed to support him. Not make him question his own progress."

My slight smile faded. "Thank you," I said quietly, sending a wave of gratitude her way.

Rosalie rolled her eyes. "Whatever. We don't need to make a big deal. About me, anyway. We should make a big deal about Edward being unsupportive, though. He needs to get over himself and…" she trailed off. "Are you even listening to me?"

Edward was staring across the lot—where the new girl was getting out of her noisy truck. "I can use my eyes and my ears at the same time, Rosalie," he assured her. "Do you think your sense of foreboding has to do with her, Alice?"

Alice tipped her head to the side and studied the girl in question—who just so happened to glance over at that point to see us all watching her. A flush filled her cheeks, but we were far enough away that I could make this a casual observation instead of a temptation. "I don't know," Alice answered. "Maybe—" she stopped talking as her eyes went out of focus.

A screech filled the air, and Alice gasped out, "Oh no." A van was skidding across the slick ground, heading directly toward the new girl.

My mind stalled as I imagined what would happen next: crashing, screaming, blood…blood. I would not, could not, withstand that, even from this distance. If that van hit the girl, my progress and all my high hopes would be for nothing.

I wasted no more time thinking, and instead sped into action.

Bella

It happened so fast—quicker than the blink of any eye. One moment, I was trying not to watch the Cullens across the lot as they watched me. The next, there was the screeching of brakes and a startled scream and a van heading right for me. There was no time to react. All I could do was stand there by my bumper and mentally brace for impact, though I knew that wouldn't help. This was going to be bad.

But as I stood there with my eyes squeezed shut, a force slammed into me from an unexpected direction. I collapsed under the weight, my head smacking off the ground as something cold laid on my chest, holding me down.

The sound of metal crunching and glass breaking made my eyes snap open again.

What I saw was a shock.

There was a Cullen on top of me, wrapped around me, shielding my body from the green van that was now only centimeters from his back. My eyes went back and forth from the van to my truck, which had a huge dent but was somehow otherwise unharmed, to the boy protecting me. He seemed to be holding his breath.

"Are you okay?" I asked him, my voice a croak.

His gaze snapped to me, golden irises shining. He stared for a moment, then…sniffed? Was he sniffing the air? His body stiffened. He coughed a little. Then he studied our surroundings, not lifting off of me as he did so. It was weird, but I suspected he also wanted to make sure we were safe before getting up. Which was nice, I had to admit.

I took this chance to glance around at our surroundings as well. I'd already clocked my truck and the van, but now I noticed that the Cullen and I were strapped between the cars. There were other students trying to peek over the ones around us, asking if we were okay, if anyone was hurt. There was also glass scattered on the ground. Since the boy had been shielding me, I was fine but I looked at him.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked again, my voice stronger this time. "There's glass everywhere. Are you hurt?"

His gaze shifted back to me again. His stare was unnerving, but I refused to be intimidated. He'd helped me. Now I needed to make sure he was alright. Was he holding his breath again?

"I'm fine," he mumbled. Then he lifted off of me, scooting as far away as he could in the limited space.

I squirmed, trying to get my arms underneath me so I could sit up.

He moved closer and waved his hand over me. "Don't. You hit your head pretty hard. You should stay down."

I tried to ignore him and sit up anyway, but when I lifted my neck a sharp pain split through my skull. "Ow."

His lips tipped into a smirk. "Yeah."

I would not roll my eyes at the Cullen boy who had kept me from getting crushed. Wait—a Cullen… "How did you get over here so fast?"

He raised his brows at me, his expression nonchalant but I noticed his fists were clenched. "That's a strange way to say thank you. I'm a kind stranger who pushed you out of the way of a speeding car, and the first thing you do is question the circumstances?"

Okay, I couldn't help it. I rolled my eyes. "You're not exactly a stranger."

"We haven't met," he said firmly, the gold in his eyes burning in a way that made me think there was more to his response. A double meaning somehow. I took a second to puzzle over that, but came up with nothing.

Besides, he wasn't exactly wrong. "I've met your brother, though. Edward." And I've heard lots about your family, was what I did not say. It was true, but I knew how uncomfortable it was to be the subject of attention for an entire school. I wasn't going to draw attention to that fact.

"I am not Edward."

"I know that, but…" I trailed off, unsure where I'd been going with this. I should have just let him introduce himself and we could have moved on from there. "I just meant that I know who you are. Even though we haven't met. So you're not exactly a stranger."

He frowned, weighing my words. "Well, I know who you are too."

I scoffed at that. "Not surprising."

"But I still wouldn't say we're not strangers. Not yet, anyway."

"And at what point would you say we're done being strangers?"

He smiled. "When introductions are made, of course." He paused, looking unsure for a moment. His fists clenched, then unclenched. He closed his eyes, pulling in a breath. His body stiffened when he held it in, but then he opened his eyes and held out his hand. "I'm Jasper Hale."

Hale. Not Cullen. Interesting. But he was still with the Cullens, one of them. This only increased my curiosity for the family. I pushed that aside for now, though, and put my hand in his. "Nice to meet you, Jasper. I'm Bella. Bella Swan. Thanks for not letting me get run over by that van. Though I'd still like to know how you got all the way over here so quickly."

He ran his hand through his blond hair with a sigh. "Back to this?"

"Yes!" I said. "You were all the way across the lot with your family. How did you get from there to here in the blink of an eye?"

He didn't say anything for a second, then he squinted at me. "Is your head okay?"

I scowled. "Don't change the subject."

He shook his head, his expression genuinely concerned. "No, really. You said I got over here in the blink of an eye. It wasn't. I was already almost over here when the van started skidding. Are you having a lapse in memory?"

Blinking, I thought that through. "No. I saw you. Edward and one of the girls was staring at me. You and the other two were over there, too. I saw it. Then the van…" I trailed off, trying to piece it all together. I had seen them. I knew I had. But uncertainty was coursing through me now, and it wasn't helped by the fact that I couldn't even remember any of the other Cullens' names to describe it properly. All I knew was Edward, the guy I had biology with, and Jasper, who had just introduced himself to me. I couldn't remember the names of the others, though Jessica had told me them all.

"Don't worry," Jasper murmured soothingly, standing to check out what was going on beyond the cars boxing us in. "We'll get you checked out. You'll be okay."

Edward

Alice's hand was on my arm as we all stared over at where Jasper was now boxed in with the Swan girl. She didn't see anything bad happening, but I felt a pull over there anyway. I had no reason to care so much. She was just a regular human girl. A challenge for Jasper…and myself, too. If anything, I should have been disappointed that Tyler Crowley's van hadn't been her demise.

And yet as the scene had played out and I had stood there frozen, my mind had screamed, Not her.

If Jasper hadn't taken action, I had no doubt I would have.

But why?

I met Jasper's gaze as he assured the girl she'd be okay. Am I lying? he asked.

Shaking my head in small enough motion for no one but one of our kind to notice, I gave him his answer. None of Alice's visions were showing Jasper having issues with his control. It was an odd leap forward, considering it was only days ago when Jasper had needed to be thrown out of the lunchroom in order to refrain from ripping her throat out in front of the entire school. Now he was in close quarters with her in a vulnerable situation, and he was solid in his resolve.

"Jasper always has worked well in extreme circumstances," Alice murmured, her mind on the same track as mine. "Strategy and careful maneuvering are where he excels."

Rosalie sighed. "So this was a push into success? He would have done just fine with the original plan. It would have taken longer, but he wouldn't have failed."

Emmett chimed in, "Yeah, but this way was probably easier for him. In the long run. Less time to think and worry. Now he knows he has control enough to be near her, talk to her, and even resist an obvious blood scenario."

"Obvious blood scenario?" Rosalie scoffed.

"He could have let the van hit her, Rosie," Emmett explained, reaching out to rub at her shoulder even though she was glaring at him. "Easy excuse for snapping."

Alice began striding toward where Jasper was standing, saying to us as she left, "This isn't the place for this conversation. And we'll look suspicious if we don't check on him."

Realizing she was right, and that the thoughts and eyes of students were on us curiously, I wasted no time following her. She obviously made it to the scene of the accident first, her voice pitched higher than normal as she exclaimed, "Jazzy, are you alright?"

A warm smile slid over his lips as he assured her, "I'm just fine, darlin'. Bella here got a bit of a whack to her head, though. Do you know if an ambulance is on its way?"

"I'm pretty sure I'm fine," the human girl mumbled.

"I'm not so sure," Jasper disagreed gently, widening his eyes at me. I'd caught their exchange before, where he'd planted the seed for the possibility of a head injury—one that could result in a lapse of memory, thus making it seem like Jasper crossed the parking lot in the blink of an eye. Which he did actually do. But we didn't need Isabella Swan knowing that.

A majority of the crowd in the parking lot was focused on Tyler Crowley at this point, since the boy had passed out at the wheel after crashing, but I overheard multiple students on the phone to emergency reporting that there were multiple students involved in the incident and in need of medical attention. So I told Jasper, "Help is on its way."

A defeated sigh sounded from the ground on the other side of the car. I chuckled.

"Maybe we could move one of the cars so you two could have more room," Rosalie suggested, nudging Emmett. "Go help."

Alice smiled. "Yeah, Em. You and Edward move this one right here, it looks lighter than the van and the truck." She gestured to the smaller car the Swan girl had parked next to. "That way Jasper doesn't have to crowd Bella and the paramedics will be able to help her faster when they arrive."

"Rosalie has some muscles on her, maybe she should do it herself," Emmett joked as he moved to do as the ladies said. Alice and Rosalie could both do this themselves easily, but for appearances I helped Emmett move the car out enough to move through the gap.

"Um, were you supposed to do that?" a voice piped up from a few feet away. I looked over to see Jessica Stanley standing there with her hands on her hips. "This is a crime scene. You just compromised it."

I rolled my eyes, and Rosalie stepped forward to narrow her gaze at the girl. "Would you leave your brother trapped in between cars after he saved some girl's life? Would you leave your brother and that girl trapped when the girl was most likely facing a head injury and needed immediate medical attention? Would you be worried about a stupid crime scene when the wellbeing of the people involved is much more vital? Hmm? Would you, little girl?"

Emmett's hand landed on Rosalie's arm as he pulled her back a little bit, pressing her into his side. "Calm down, Rosie."

Jessica Stanley's face was white as a sheet. "No need to flip out. Just pointing out—"

I jumped in and interrupted before Jessica finished her sentence and infuriated Rosalie even more. "It doesn't matter, Jessica, this isn't a crime scene. It's the scene of an accident. At this point, all that matters is damage done to vehicles and people. The vehicles can be assessed later. The people, on the other hand…" I trailed off.

"How are you feeling, Bella?" Alice chimed in, shifting the attention away from Jessica's ignorance.

Bella had managed to prop herself up on her elbows, but had yet to sit up fully. A tension around her eyes revealed she was in pain. But the words that came out of her mouth were, "I've had worse." She sounded sincere, and that made me curious. Was this girl a danger magnet?

Mentally, I laughed at myself. Of course she was. All the girl had to do was live and breathe, and she'd attracted one of the most deadly vampires to her blood.

"I'm Alice, by the way," my sister said, squatting down to offer her hand. As they shook, Alice pointed out out other two siblings. "And that's Emmett and Rosalie. I'm sure you know Edward and Jasper by now."

Bella smiled weakly. "Hi."

"You've had worse?" Emmett asked, skipping over a greeting. "Worse than a van nearly crushing you?"

Bella laughed. "Don't ask."

Emmett snorted. "How can I not? I need details."

"Oh look," Rosalie said pointedly, "the ambulance is here. Let's get out of the way, Emmett." Then she dragged her husband across the lot to where the Volvo was parked.

"Edward," Alice said, gaining my attention. "You should probably go, too. I'll make sure Jasper gets taken care of." In her mind she added, Jasper will have to go to the hospital. I'll take care of it so he gets taken directly to Carlisle. You take Emmett and Rosalie and meet us there.

Her planning and reasoning was solid, but…

I'll make sure Bella is alright, too. Don't worry, she added.

My brow furrowed. Why would it matter to me how Bella was taken care of? It was definitely the cause of my hesitance—but why? And how would Alice know?

"Edward," Jasper said firmly, "time to go."

I met his eyes. We can figure everything out later. For now, we need to not cause a scene. Or more of one.

With a sigh, I nodded. He was right. Surely he could feel how confused and conflicted my emotions were. We could discuss later and maybe he could help me figure it out.

But that was later. Now, I headed over to the Volvo where Emmett and Rosalie waited, resisting the urge to turn around all the while.

What do you think of my twist on "Phenomenon"? This was one of the first scenes of this story I pictured when I started brainstorming this one, so I'm excited to finally have it written and posted for y'all! Please let me know your thoughts on the chapter - and where you think they story may go from here? And on that note, THANK YOU to everyone who has reviewed so far. You are the best people. :)