*Jasper's POV*

I dragged myself through the doors of Forks High School for yet another day of 'education'. At least it was my senior year (again) so for the next few years I got to go away somewhere to college. Graduation was only a few months away, I could handle it.

I had resolved not to think about Amanda anymore, there was no point. She might have been an intriguing individual but nothing more to me. I was trying to sidetrack myself mentally last night, but a few times I slipped and thought of her. I saw Edward giving me odd looks, but chose to ignore it. I was afraid if I kept dwelling on her mysteriousness then Edward would pick up on something more concrete in my thoughts and lecture me.

I'm not as weak as he seems to think I am, I have more self control than he realizes. I get sick of being the weakest link in the family, and I certainly don't want this random girl in my private thoughts to be the cause of a lecture that brings up my tumultuous history with the vegetarian diet.

I can understand why Edward would be concerned, yet I should be allowed to have privacy in my own head. But then again, it wasn't his fault, it was probably as annoying to him to hear everything everyone thought was it was for me to be bombarded by everyone's emotions. I shouldn't be so hard on him.

I slammed my locker shut and meandered to first period, English. I had this class with Rosalie. We sat together but seldom conversed. Rose and I were much closer than most anyone would have guessed. We were able to be comfortable in silence, which is sometimes the best thing. She didn't judge or lecture me and I didn't condemn her vanity. We overlooked each other's faults.

She had beaten me to class. I sat beside her and pulled out my book I had remembered to bring from home about transcendental philosophy. At least I'd have some mental stimulation today. "At least you have entertainment," Rose smiled, playfully glaring at me. I shrugged and opened the book where I had left off, trying to drown out the sounds around me.

The day trudged on, never wanting to end. You'd think immortality would have given me better patience. I've been 'alive' nearly 200 years, quite a long time, yet school days seemed to drone on a thousand times longer than my existence.

Eventually, the lunch bell rang and I bolted from my Advanced Chemistry class. After lunch was only one more class and then I was done for the day. I met up with Alice in the lunch line; we too enjoyed each other's company. She greeted me with a cheery smile before launching into turbo speed rambling. I wasn't really listening; I was too preoccupied trying not to look for her.

"By the way," she added as we made our way to the table, "Don't be mad at Emmett. He thinks he's being helpful." "What?" I asked, utterly confused. "You'll find out soon enough," she finished mysteriously. Before I could badger her further, she started talking to Bella, probably purposefully to remain vague…as everyone knew full well Bella had no interest in the latest Versace line of handbags.

Emmett and Rose joined us in their usual seats; Emmett was feeling remarkably smug of himself; that much was obvious even without my ability to sense it. He and Edward were smirking at each other, whatever he had done Edward obviously saw in his head. "Can you see what will happen?" Emmett asked Alice. "No…he doesn't know about any of this yet," She answered. This was really starting to annoy me.

"I hate being the odd one out," Bella moaned from her seat across the table. I rolled my eyes at them, thinking I could probably guess what they were going on about. If they were trying to 'set me up' it was gonna be war. I don't need a frail human to babysit; I'm not close to being as saintly as Edward. I don't want to he as saintly as Edward, I thought he censored too much of the truth from Bella. I couldn't possibly see the fun in a relationship where one has to worry about physically maiming the other person. Either way, I wish they'd all drop it. I picked my book up again and used it to ignore my now clearly insane siblings.

The bell eventually rang, much to my chagrin and relief. The lot of them turned to smile at me and I found myself nervous about whatever they had in store for me. I sent them a questioning look as I walked away. Rose caught up to me and patted my shoulder to calm me. "Should I be worried?" I asked. "You'll be fine; it's just one of Emmett's stupid schemes." I found this encouraging…and a touch alarming. Emmett had had some dandies in his day.

"So, bro…"Emmett began, "There's been a minor change in seating arrangements." "Whatever, you know full well we have assigned seats in history," I glowered, growing increasingly more anxious. "Well, that might be true…if this weren't the case," he smiled. He held out his hand to reveal a wad of some woodlike material. "That would be our table…you gotta sit somewhere else now!!" Emmett joyously declared. I laughed in spite of myself, leave it to Emmett to wad up a table just to annoy me.

We had to hurry if we didn't want to be late. What an oxymoron, a vampire being late for class. Emmett dashed ahead of me just as we reached the door. It was only when I entered the classroom that I realized he had taken it upon himself to take the only other vacant chair…the other vacant chair being by her.

"I don't know WHY you feel the need to encourage this," I murmured to him as I walked by to take my new seat. I took a deep breath before sitting next to Amanda. I have no idea why I felt the need to breathe…it was comforting in a way. A normal human reaction.

As I took my seat I gauged her reaction. She glanced over at me in a casual way. I could feel she was mildly curious, but not completely repulsed by the presence of a monster like me. She was still quite sad too; I hoped my close proximity would calm her down some. I decided to go back to reading my book rather than giving Emmett the satisfaction of watching me watch her again. He wasn't going to win!

I resumed my place in my book and vowed to not pay her any mind. I could feel Emmett's eyes boring into the side of my head and I had the overwhelming urge to send some inappropriate hand signals in his general direction. "That's a good book, I've never seen another person read it," Amanda remarked quietly to me.

My head turned abruptly to look at her, equally as amazed by her choice in literature. I never imaged that any person under the age of 70 would even consider picking this book up off the shelf. I had no idea what to say to her.

"Me neither, it took me forever to actually find a copy of it. It's good though," I replied politely back, completely lamely. Smooth, Jasper, smooth. "It seems leaving Forks is necessary to find anything decent to read," she smirked, "I liked the 6th chapter the best, but I had to read it like 3 times to understand it." "I'm not that far yet, but I'll keep that in mind. I've had to backtrack a few times already," I smiled back. She was easier to talk to than I ever imagined. She smelled nice too, yet it didn't bother me nearly as badly as Bella had bothered Edward. Ha, was I actually better than St. Edward in this area?? "Have you read this one yet?" I continued, pulling another book out of my bag. I brought it for backup in case I finished this one, vampirism allows for serious speed reading.

"No, I've heard of it though," she said, eyeing the cover, "That looks like a really old copy." "It is…I found it in an antique shop," I explained, completely lying. I had actually purchased this book when it first came out in 1917. "You can borrow it if you like, I've read it several times," I went on. "You're sure you don't mind? I don't want to destroy a priceless antique," she quipped. "You're more than welcome to, I don't put too much stock in antiquity," I said with more of double meaning than she'd ever know, sliding the book to her. We both began to read under the table, drowning out yet another horrid lecture that butchered the complexities of American history.

Eventually, class ended. "Thanks for the book," she said, standing up to leave. "You're welcome, I hope you enjoy it," I remarked, putting my things away back into my bag, "I'm Jasper by the way." I had no idea why I suddenly felt the need for introductions; I keep getting lamer by the second. "I'm Amanda," she introduced herself, appearing not to be bothered by my awkwardness. She held out her hand to shake mine and I hesitated.

After deliberation, I decided to just go for it and if she was freaked out she was freaked out. When I touched her hand I could sense her mild surprise at the coldness of it, yet she wasn't alarmed like so many others have been over the years. I tried to use this opportunity of contact, albeit brief as it was, to erase her sadness. "well, I'll see you Monday I guess," she added as we headed to the door to go our separate ways. "Yeah, see you then," I said as Emmett approached me and she scurried away. "Don't look so pleased with yourself," I snarled at him. It was hard to actually be ill towards him, the experience was a lot less painful than I had expected. "Are you excited for Monday yet??" he laughed, still grinning broadly. I murmured a string of profanities that I knew only he could hear, which only made him laugh further.