"Cause I see sparks fly whenever you smile."
Taylor Swift
Chapter Ten
Bella high-tailed it towards her classroom and sputtered a multitude of oaths under her breath after checking the time on her watch. She was fifteen minutes late thanks to her old alarm clock that had somehow refused to wake her up this morning. To make matters worse Mr. Burns wasn't the most patient man when it came to tardies, let alone anything. Bella dreaded walking into the room and meeting his hard, scrutinizing gaze.
As she approached the door to the classroom Bella sighed and rested her hand on the handle. Well, here goes nothing, she thought with a quick grimace and opened the door.
The moment she stepped inside all heads turned to stare at her. Mr. Burns, on the other hand, continued to write on the blackboard. Without turning his head he said, "Well hello Ms. Swan, how charming of you to finally decide to join us."
Blushing, Bella rushed to explain. "Er, sorry Mr. Burns, my alarm-"
"No need to make up an excuse, Bella. Please, take a seat. Your classmates were just about to split into groups to discuss each other's answers over the last assignment."
Bella quickly went to sit in her usual spot near the back, mentally cursing her alarm clock for about the millionth time that morning. After she had sat down the class finally turned their attention back to Mr. Burns, much to her relief.
"All right, now that everyone is present, you may start looking over each other's answers," Mr. Burns announced and sat down in his chair with a slight huff.
"Isn't he pleasant?" Eric said cheerfully from beside her.
Bella turned to look at him and raised an eyebrow. "Yes, very," she replied sarcastically.
Angela swiveled around in her seat in front of Bella and stated quite seriously, "I actually think he's sort of handsome." She glanced at Bella and then to Jessica adding, "Don't you think?"
"What?" Jessica exclaimed, looking positively appalled. "Ew! Angela, Mr. Burns is like…forty years old. That is so gross."
"So?" Angela shrugged. "I still think he's attractive."
"Mr. Burns is not attractive," Jessica remarked firmly, "Jasper Hale is attractive."
Angela rolled her eyes behind her black-rimmed glasses. "Again with Jasper Hale! Seriously Jessica, we already know how obsessed you are with him, we don't need a constant reminder."
At Jasper's name Bella glanced up from her notebook, suddenly curious.
"Whatever," Jessica said, turning her attention to Bella. "You agree with me, don't you Bella?"
Bella bit down on her lip. "Uh, well…he certainly has some pleasant attributes."
Jessica snorted and said, "Don't be so modest, Bella. Do you think he's hot or not?"
"Um, yeah…I do."
Jessica beamed triumphantly. "Hah! See, Angela? I'm not the only one who thinks he's a total hunk."
"Oh, just shut up and sleep with him already," Eric joked with a grin.
Bella instantly felt like someone had punched her in the stomach. Tightening her grip on her pencil she glanced over at Jessica casually.
"Oh, trust me Eric, one day I will," Jessica shot at him, crossing her arms across her chest with a smirk.
Bella's eyes flashed indignantly and without thinking she turned to Jessica and said, "I don't think that will be any day soon. I heard he was dating someone."
Jessica gasped in surprise. "What? He's dating someone? Who?"
Her loud demand caused several people in the room to turn and stare at them in annoyance.
"Is there a problem, Jessica?" Mr. Burns questioned, glancing up from the papers on his desk.
"No, Mr. Burns," Jessica replied politely despite looking visibly upset.
"Very well. Continue on."
Jessica lowered her voice this time and demanded once more to Bella, "Who is Jasper dating?"
Bella shifted uncomfortably in her seat and gave a slight shrug. "Someone not from here," she replied. She thought, well, that's not exactly a lie, really.
Jessica narrowed her eyes. "Oh come on, that's not all you've got, is it?"
It's all you need to know, Bella wanted to say, but instead she glanced back down at her notebook and stated carefully, "It's all I can tell you."
Jessica sighed dramatically and said, "Well, I'll tell you this – by the end of the day I fully intend to know all about Jasper and this new "girlfriend" of his. I bet it's just some stupid rumor going around."
"Okay, now that we've wasted about five minutes talking about Jasper," Angela said in irritation, "Can we please go over our answers?"
As her friends began discussing the assignment Bella sunk down further in her seat and closed her eyes. Oh God, what have I done? Even as she thought this she knew - she knew exactly what she had done.
In the last couple of weeks she had grown closer to Jasper; close enough that she was actually beginning to feel jealous at the mere thought of him sleeping with another girl. How could she have let this happen?
She didn't want to feel this way.
She didn't want to grow close to anyone.
And she certainly did not want Jasper Hale.
…or did she?
After lunch Bella headed to her locker to switch out her books. The moment she walked around the corner she stopped dead in her tracks and felt her throat run dry.
Jasper was waiting for her, leaning against her locker casually with his hands tucked in the front pockets of his faded blue jeans. He looked dashingly handsome as always, wearing a red and black plaid shirt that wasn't quite tucked all the way in. His dirty blond hair looked tousled, as if he had ran his hand through it just a moment before.
He spotted her immediately and flashed a wide, charming grin.
Her heart began to pound hard against her chest and for a second Bella could scarcely breathe.
A moment passed and she forced herself to close the space between her and the cowboy despite her mind screaming to turn and run the other way.
"Hey, Bella," Jasper greeted her warmly, "How's your day going?"
"It's going just splendidly," Bella replied, her tone dripping with sarcasm.
Jasper raised an eyebrow. "Oh, yeah? Anything special happen?"
"Oh no, nothing…special," Bella answered tentatively, being careful not to meet his gaze. Instead she stared down at the books in her hands. "But you might want to know something," she added, biting her bottom lip.
"What's that?"
"Uh, well…let's just say that, hypothetically, you're dating someone."
Jasper blinked and stared at Bella, looking utterly perplexed. "Well, all right…who hypothetically might I be dating?"
Bella blushed, digging herself into an even deeper hole. Still not meeting his suspicious gaze she faltered and said, "Um, someone not from…around here?"
Jasper took a step closer and lowered his head, murmuring, "And is this hypothetical girl I'm dating as gorgeous as you?"
Bella made the mistake of lifting her head and staring into his eyes. The moment their gazes locked Bella knew she was in deep, deep trouble.
Jasper whispered her name softly, causing chills to run up and down her spine, before leaning down to plant a kiss on her lips.
Red alert! Red alert!
Gasping, Bella turned her head away and lifted her Chemistry book in front of her face. "No, Jasper!" she hissed quietly, "Please, don't."
Jasper raised his head and stared down at her in confusion. "What's wrong, darlin'?"
"Can you please not call me that?" Bella pleaded, risking a glance at him from over her book. "And stop looking at me like that."
"Like what?" he drawled, smirking knowingly.
"Like you're about to try and kiss me again," Bella replied, feeling her cheeks flush with heat.
"And what would be wrong with that?" Jasper questioned.
Bella sighed in exasperation. "Look, Jasper, as much as I regretfully enjoy your company I really need to go to class." And as if right on cue the bell rang loud and clear above their heads.
Bella pointed to her locker. "Now, if you could please move aside, I really need to get my books."
"Do you have issues with public affection?" Jasper asked curiously, deliberately ignoring her request.
"What? No. Jasper, I swear if you do not move your flat ass out of the way right this instant I'm going to smack you," Bella warned, annoyance clearly evident in her tone.
Jasper stared at her in astonishment, still standing solidly in front of her locker. "Did you just call my ass flat?"
"Would you rather I have called it fat?" Bella shot, sounding quite angry with him. "Honestly, Jasper! Move."
Finally Jasper took a step aside and watched silently as she yanked her locker door open, threw her books in, grabbed new ones and slammed the door shut. With an aggravated huff, Bella whirled around to face him.
"Forget what I said a minute ago, okay? It's nothing. I'll see you at the ranch."
And with that said Bella headed to her next class, leaving a very bewildered cowboy standing in her wake.
Tsk tsk that Bella is stubborn, don't you think? And poor Jasper, getting rejected. But no worries, he'll step up soon... ;)
Next chapter will be longer, around 2400 words. Hope you enjoyed this one, feel free to leave a review.
~LWS