Chapter 8: The "Party" Crashers

"Not at all, Emmybear." It was Emmett, Edward, and Jasper. Of course it was them. I slid my knife surreptitiously back up my sleeve. Noticing Jasper's sharp eyes watching me, I nonchalantly said, "Trying to crash Girls' Night?"

"Uhhh-huhhhh. You know it. You're welcome. But Emmybear? Really?"

"You called me Izzybites."

"True. Okay then. Did we interrupt some…girl on girl action? Because I'd be more than happy to sit quietly in a corner…"He suggestively said, wiggling his eyebrows demonically.

"Oh shut up, Emmett!" yelled Alice. Ha. Told her so. "What are you guys doing here?"

"He just showed up at our door with the creepiest grin on his face and told us to go with him. Newton was being especially annoying, so we decided what the hell. He told us to tell the parental units we were gonna go hang out with him, and we'd probably crash over at his tonight…of course, we had no idea where he'd actually take us. What in the world, Emmett?" Edward explained.

"You guys have to live with Newton? Man, I feel so sorry for you."

"Yep."

"Izzyers! Can please crash here tonight? I didn't really think this through…" Emmett said, with no regret at all.

"…Fine. But don't go in the basement, kay? Off limits." He looked a little suspicious at that, but quickly agreed. I was pretty sure he just wanted to spend more time with Rose. I opened the door a little wider so that they could file on in, and gestured for them to hurry up. It was starting to snow a little outside. Huh. Forks.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Destiny~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Seriously? You seriously do not own a T.V?"Emmet seemed so baffled.

"No. I don't." We were watching another chick flick, but only Alice seemed really into it. Rose was half watching and half listening to our conversation.

"Then how do you watch movies?"

"I don't usually."

"WHAT? That's crazy."

"You're crazy."

"I know I am. Crazy awesome." Wow, Emmett. Wow. I got up and went to one of the few windows in my house. The snow was really coming down. I didn't think I'd ever seen that much snowfall at this time of year. At this rate, we'd actually be snowed in.

"Hey, guys. Maybe you should call you parents and stuff. I don't think anybody's gonna be able to drive tomorrow."

"My mom's on a business trip. She wouldn't care anyway," Rose grumbled.

"Same," Alice agreed, seemingly sobered up from her sappy romance coma.

"Eh, my Nonna won't worry. She'll understand." Emmet seemed unconcerned.

"I'll go call our mom," Edward told Jasper, before walking off to make his phone call. Jasper nodded absentmindedly and went back to whatever he was contemplating before.

"Hey, Izzmeister. Where's your supervisors?" I tensed a little.

"I'm emancipated. I don't technically have to have supervisors."

"So you live here by yourself? Pretty awesome." I nodded strictly, and changed the subject. Jasper was watching me again.

"Yeah, so um, what? Did you just decide to come crash Alice's little get together? How did you even know, anyways? Rose and I didn't even know."

"Oh, I have my ways," he said, loving the fake mysterious air he was putting on.

"He was lurking in the shop when I bought the snacks, so I told him." Alice remarked. Emmett looked put out, now that the 'effect was ruined'.

Later on, when everybody had fallen asleep, I got up and strode soundlessly over to a small room that looked like a closet by the door, and armed my security systems, just to be sure. I started walking back, when I realized that Jasper was awake. And watching me. Again. I nodded to him and went back to my place beside Emmett, who was snoring deeply on my couch. I propped my legs up on his giant body and laid down. I stared at the ceiling for awhile, not able to relax.

"Night, Izzy," Jasper finally said after a long silence. I could hear him shuffle around a little to find a more comfortable position, and finally, his long, even breaths, signaling that he had fallen asleep. After a while, I too fell into a slumber. Although I knew that mine, and his, too, were just light enough to be woken up at the first sound of danger.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Destiny~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I woke up at the same time as Jasper. We both stretched, and softly stood. It was actually kind of creepy how in synch our movements were. I guessed he thought of the same thing, because he smirked softly, and turned to make eye contact with me.

"Well, good mornin'."

"Yeah. Mornin'." He smiled a bit and looked around. Breaking the silence, I suggested, "So um, you can use my bathroom, down the hall, to the left, and there should be a whole bunch of extra toothbrushes under the sink." He raised an eyebrow. "I buy in bulk," I replied, shrugging with a half-grin.

He ambled off, running a hand through his hair, while I tried to figure out what I should do. Usually on weekends, I just trained most of the day. But with my friends here I didn't really know. I guess I'd have to wait for them to wake up. I knew that most people didn't get up at 5:30 on a Sunday, but that's when I always woke up. And apparently, Jasper, too. They'd most likely sleep in a bit, especially since we stayed up pretty late last night…I thought I had some time to train while I wait. But what about Jasper? Eh. He can take care of himself. I'm sure he'll think of something…

Resolved, I headed downstairs to my basement, where, conveniently I had another bathroom, since I spent so much time down there, and I always showered after practicing. After going through my usual morning routine, I changed into my usual training clothes and walked back out, putting my hair into a ponytail. To my surprise, Jasper was standing in front of the door. He was the only one who had successfully snuck up on me since…ever. My respect for him as a fellow fighter grew.

He just stood there, smiling, so I semi-awkwardly made my way past him.

"Need a sparring partner?" he asked, sidling up next to me. Hmm. I hadn't sparred with someone in a while. There was nobody I trusted enough.

"Sure. Lay it on me." It was part challenge, part statement. He walked out past me a bit, and turned, taking his stance. We started circling, each trying to gauge strengths and weaknesses. Then, I noticed that he shifted just slightly, right before he lunged forward. I dodged, and we began. We were probably as evenly matched as it could get, and it became less of a fight and more of an elaborate dance, with each of us almost getting a hold of each other, and functioning on instinct and adrenaline. There wasn't a lot of actual aggression, though, and it was…fun. We were both having the time of our lives. I hadn't fought anybody I couldn't beat easily enough for as long as I could remember. It was great. It was fantastic. He finally took me down, but I swept my leg under both of his while on my way, so that he landed on top of me. Well, he would've, but he caught himself just in time to avoid crushing me. We were both grinning, and panting, and sweaty, and about to get up and call it the draw it was when we both tensed and looked towards the stairs, just before the rest of our group came down the stairs slowly. They had clearly just woken up, probably from the noise we were making, and come to investigate.

"Izzy? Jasper? Whoa…were we interrupting something?" What does Emmett-? Oh. I guess this position is kind of awkward…

Jasper got up and offered me a hand, which I took, pulling myself back to a vertical position. "We were sparring."

"Sparring? Why-what is this place?" Uh oh…I really don't feel like explaining all this, but I guess I'll have to.

"Why don't we go upstairs and I'll tell you."