Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or its characters.

It was still too early for classes to begin, so Jasper and I walked around campus trying to find an empty spot to be alone and discuss my jump into his world. It didn't take a long for us to end up at the maintenance building again, and it was still empty, making it the perfect place to talk.

"So…" I said, feeling shy all of a sudden.

"That was something," he smiled, letting me go. He took a couple of slow strides away from me while I looked down at his feet.

"Thanks?"

"But he knew what was up before you greeted us."

I looked up to see Jasper's back. "You keep saying that, but I don't understand."

"I want you to know what you are getting yourself into, Alice." He turned around and looked me in the eyes. "You know about our skin, how cold we are, how fast we are, but you don't know how hard it is for some of us to control ourselves."

"But you're doing a decent enough job. I haven't seen anyone missing," I smiled, trying to make a joke I knew wasn't funny. I didn't have a chance to breathe in when I felt my body being swiftly but carefully lifted and pushed against the same brick wall I was up against the week before. His face buried itself onto my neck and I could feel teeth lightly scrap against my skin. My heart realized what was happening before my lungs even thought about pushing the air out; it was beating so loud I was sure that was the reason why I couldn't hear a single bird in the trees. When the air finally blew past my lips, it came out rough and jagged and stirred the hair lying on Jasper's head.

"You're scared," he whispered along the skin.

"Really?" I asked, moving my legs around his waist instead of leaving them to dangle. "Try again." The way Jasper held me didn't raise any flags for me. One hand was between me and the wall while his other arm held my waist so I wouldn't fall to the ground. And if he wanted to hurt me, he wouldn't have stopped just before the kill. My hands moved from my side to position his head in front of me so I could look into his eyes.

Jasper looked into my eyes before he closed them and smiled. "I see."

"What do you see?"

"It is not so much seeing as it is feeling."

"What?"

His eyes opened. "I thought you would have realized something was going on before now. Other than being vampires, we have gifts. Each one of us is different. Edward knows what everyone thinks because he can hear everyone's thoughts. Emmett, he is abnormally strong. Rosalie has beauty. And, me, I can feel and change emotions."

"So," I whispered, leaning my head closer to his, "what do you feel now."

"I feel like I was meant to find you."

I giggled. "You know how cheesy that sounds?" I asked, my mouth hesitating just above his. I didn't wait to hear his response and let my lips delicately touch his. He kissed back and the feeling of love and joy poured over me. I didn't know if this was all me or him or the combination of the two, but I liked it. I hungrily went after him and wrapped my arms around his neck as my body pushed as close to him as I could.

It was Jasper who stopped the kiss. He easily stepped away from the wall, letting go of me in the process. I let my legs drop with my arms and watched him as he retreated hastily away. His face was pained again, not happy. I shook my head and walked forward, following him as he kept backing up.

"Stop, Jasper, please." He must have caught my concern because he stopped and allowed me to catch his hands.

"I can easily become carried away."

"That won't happen. Not with me. You can feel it, right? We'll just take it day by day. It'll be fine." I smiled, but continued in a scolding tone, "But don't you ever tell me to stay away again because I'm sick of it. You and I both know the best thing for us is to stay together." I dropped the smile and the scolding. "And we both know how this is going to end."

I closed my eyes and sighed. The first thing I thought about when I woke up this morning was being with Jasper. This was the first time I actually let myself think about what that meant. Being with Jasper meant not being with anyone else in the same way again. I was going to have to lie, keep everyone at arm's length, and, one of these days, I was going to have to make the decision to leave.

"I won't hesitate," I said more to myself than to him.

"I know." I felt him squeeze my hands and kiss the top of my head.

88888

A couple of people tried to stop me between classes or even during classes to ask about Jasper and me. Most of them were just confused by how I was able to weasel my way into the Cullen circle. The others wanted details, which I refused to give. I just gave them a smile and a shrug and let them know I was Jasper's and he was mine.

What led to further confusion was that my lunchroom routine had changed. Jasper found me just before lunch and we walked into the cafeteria together and toward his table, holding hands the whole way. I could feel how calm he felt. It wasn't a complete calm the way the two of us were that morning, but it was better than I saw him in weeks. I asked him about it when we sat down and he answered, "It's because you're with me."

His answer caused four different reactions in the people at the table. Me, I felt loved and smiled. After looking away from Jasper, I saw Emmett shake his head with his own smile as if he remembered his first moments with Rosalie. Rosalie looked bored. And then there was Edward; all he had was a scowl on his lips and a glare plastered across his eyebrows. I knew I'd have to talk to him about this one day. I just hoped he would calm down by then.

"Alice, can I talk to you a moment?" I heard Bella ask behind me.

I turned my head and then my body before I stood up. "I haven't gotten anything to eat yet, so join me in line." I was glad I was in the lead as we made it to the line since my smile faltered enough that I was sure Bella would have picked up on it.

"What in the world is going on?"

Her words were harsh, but I placed innocent smile on my face instead of letting it continue to get to me. "What are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about," she pushed back, gesturing to the table we just came from. "I want to know what you said to the Cullens to suddenly get them to agree to this."

"Oh, nothing really." She stared me down, which let me know she wasn't going to take me blowing her off any longer. I turned my eyes away from her and pushed a deep breath out through my nose. "I can't tell you in line because I don't want everyone else to hear." I left her standing there after I found the salad I wanted and put it on my tray.

Walking back, I ran through the possible lies my sister was sure to believe. I knew Edward could hear me and I looked right at him to see which one he would accept. I still hadn't finished running through it all when I arrived at the table. "Well, guys, I just can't leave Bella out of the loop. She is my twin sister after all."

"No!" Rosalie objected when the idea finally came to me. I saw Edward's lips twitch and I knew that was the one we were going to settle on.

"No, I think that Bella has a right to know," he said, stopping Rosalie from protesting further. Then he turned the conversation back to me and I could feel the contempt roll off him. "Go ahead and tell her."

I motioned for Bella to sit down between me and Edward. I waited for her to get comfortable while I tried to put the finishing touches on the ridiculous story. "Well, it seems that shortly after Jasper was placed in the care of Dr. and Mrs. Cullen, he witnessed a murder. I guess it must have been a high profile case because he and the whole rest of their family are on the witness protection program."

Emmett was waiting for me to stop talking to laugh at the story. I didn't see what was so funny about it. It seemed plausible enough. I knew Bella wouldn't start asking questions if the witness protection program was involved. Or maybe not? Thanks to Emmett's laughter, I wasn't sure of the story anymore, which was starting to get me mad. I put my hands on my hips and leaned into the table. "I didn't do that bad of a job telling her."

"Great, now she knows and is going to tell everyone," Rosalie said, being a little too dramatic.

It was starting to go downhill and I looked at Edward for some support. I saw one corner of his mouth turn up, and I immediately I thought about how much I hated him at that moment and how I was going to get back at him. It only made him lean back in his chair as if taunting me to do it. I called him a not so nice name and wanted to continue on, but Bella called attention to herself by standing up abruptly, making the chair screech on the floor.

"I don't appreciate people lying to me. If you don't want to tell me, then you don't have to. I guess I just wanted to know why the same people who for the last month were keeping these two apart are suddenly letting her roll all over them," she yelled, and I could tell she wanted to cry.

"Bella…" I sighed, but she didn't hear me as she was already halfway across the room. Jasper found my hand and held it tight as I watched my other half walk out of the cafeteria.

When I knew she wasn't going to come back, I turned my attention back to the rest of them. "I know you guys hate me for who I am to Jasper and what I did to push my way inside your group, but that is no reason for you all to screw around with my sister." And then I turned solely on Edward. "I know my lie wasn't the best, but you could have helped."

With force, I stood up, making the chair crash behind me. I pulled my hand from Jasper's and slammed them on the table in front of Edward. Leaning in so the people staring couldn't hear, I spoke to him intensely, "Good job. It's the first time you've made her cry." I leaned even closer so my lips were practically touching his ear for my final blow. "Keep going and you'll lose her forever."

I leaned back and could see him sneer. Yeah, I see things sometimes, I smirked to myself as I grabbed my bag and walked off to find Bella.

She was in the truck. I made sure she didn't see me by staying far enough away, but I kept watch on her. It didn't take a rocket scientist to see she was crying. "It was going to happen someday. I just didn't expect it to start this soon," I said without looking at the person who stepped up on my right side. The person took my hand and the sadness started fading. "Please stop. It was as much my fault as it was theirs, maybe more."

By the end of the school day, I was starting to feel better. Jasper met me outside of my last class and we walked to the parking lot together, hand in hand. It was still the first day, but it felt very good to hold his hand. I knew he could feel me shudder every once and a while, but I wouldn't let him let go of me. It was silly, but I felt if I let go, the rest of them would swoop in and take Jasper away from me. However, I was going to hope that wasn't the case since there was no way I was going to take him home to see Charlie just yet.

"Hey, Alice," someone called behind the two of us.

"Yeah?" I asked, looking behind me to see who it was. "Tyler."

"So now that you're with Jasper, which is great by the way, are you two going to prom?" he asked, almost sounding hopeful.

I shrugged and looked at Jasper. He nodded. "Yeah."

"So Bella won't be going to Seattle anymore, right?"

"Huh? No. She can go to prom too." Tyler nodded once and then walked away thanking me for the information. It took me a second to realize I messed up. "Not with you," I quickly added, but it was too late. "Shoot."

"I'm sure she can handle it," Jasper said.

"I think you're right." I watched Tyler go straight to Bella and presumably start asking her to prom. "So, we will go to prom? Will you be okay?"

"Yes," he answered, smiling, "and I'll be fine if I stay with you."

"C'mon, Tyler's just about finished being dumped again," I grinned, and we started walking over to Bella and the truck just as Tyler backed away.

"Get in the truck now," she snapped at me. I felt Jasper tense up, but I only shook my head before kissing him lightly on the cheek and getting into the truck. I was going to calm her down once she got in, but she beat me to the punch by saying, "Alice, this is wrong."

"Bella, sometimes you don't know what's the best for everyone," I said, my happy buzz quickly wearing off. I kept my eyes on the windshield to make sure I didn't lose it completely.

"If they catch up with him, they're going to hurt you first."

Even though this conversation was about my lie, I knew the Cullens were a minority, and I was bound to run into the majority sooner or later. There was no hesitation in my voice when I spoke the truth. "I'm prepared for that if necessary."

"Are you even listening to yourself?" she yelled at me.

That was it. I whirled my body to the left in order to face my sister and shouted back, "Of course I am. Why can't you accept the fact that I'm happy with Jasper? And why won't you allow him to be happy also? People in his situation have the right to fall in love."

"And when they find him they will torture him by hurting you. You have absolutely no idea what kind of pain you'll put him through, much less the rest of us. And you should be looking out for yourself. Geez, sometimes you act too much like Renee."

"And you're just like Charlie: a stick in the mud who doesn't live and expects everyone else to live their boring overly safe lives," I pointed while almost screaming my side. "Renee's happily married, and Charlie's so bitterly alone that he hasn't even bothered to repaint the kitchen because that's how Renee painted it. And you're going to end up just as alone and can't stand the thought that I might be happy with someone."

I didn't know what to do. It was only a second, but I hesitated to see if there were any hints of apology in her eyes. Neither of us budged. We were both mad enough to not care how hurt we left the other person in that moment. I grabbed my stuff and slid out of the cab to run to the Volvo as I screamed as loud as I could in my mind for Edward to stop. I was hoping that even if he didn't want to listen, that Jasper would stop him too, and I knew he would listen to Jasper.

Edward did stop the car and I jumped in the back seat, taking Jasper's place as he slid into the middle. I couldn't do anything but lean on his shoulder and let the sadness fall. When Jasper's arm shifted around me, I looked up at the rear view mirror. They weren't visible in the reflective class, but I still told him without speaking to stay out of my head for once. And then I closed my eyes, hoping that would stop the tears from spilling out.

I didn't know if it was just me or if Jasper was also thinking how he wanted to stay with me for a little longer, but Edward didn't drive me home. When the car stopped and my eyes opened, I was in a garage. As soon as I sat up to enough to see out my window, I saw just how huge the garage was. I stepped out of the car, amazed at how many cars could actually fit inside. Every Cullen was able to have their own parking spot, and there was still room left over for counters and different tools for gardening to hang on the walls. But that wasn't what took my breath away. It was the cars. I could only imagine how great my dream car, a yellow 911 Porsche would fit in.

"Wow," I said, unable to hide my awe at seeing the Aston Martin V12 Vanquish. I walked up to the car with one of my hands extended ahead of me, ready to touch the smooth, dark paint.

"Don't touch it," a stern voice called behind me.

"Bite me," I called back.

"That could be arranged."

I lightly dragged my fingers across the car's hood. "But I thought you wanted Bella to be your first."

I hit a nerve. Even with two cars separating us and the lights above causing shadows to play across his face, I could tell he wasn't happy. The trademark growl was just the icing on the cake. I smirked. Apparently, it was the wrong thing to do.

Everything happened too quick for me to really understand what happened. One second, I was taking a step away from the Vanquish to head back to Jasper. The next second, my back was against a large Jeep with Jasper protectively in front of me. I groaned as I felt a pain in the small of my back where the step to get into the vehicle hit me. Rubbing my back, I looked past the vampire in front of me to the one in front of him. Edward had moved from his position on the driver's side of the Volvo to the front of the Aston Martin. He was angry, but he didn't look as though he was actually going to hurt me.

"Jasper, it's fine. He won't hurt me. He wouldn't do that to you or Bella." I knew he knew this, but he didn't stand down until Edward turned around and huffed out of the garage. Rosalie and Emmett, who had watched the whole scene from the back bumper of the silver car, relaxed as well and followed their brother. It wasn't until the door closed after the couple that Jasper finally let himself stand down.

"Are you okay?" he asked as he turned around.

"Yeah," I nodded. I rolled onto my toes to peck him on the cheek. "Thanks."

He took one of my hands with his. "Would you like to officially meet my…parents?"

"Sure." I led the way to the door everyone else left through. "When are you going to tell me about your real past?"

"Soon," he said, squeezing my hand. "Soon."