This is probably the last update for a day or two, this is the last bit of what I had typed up. I like reviews
Still Jasper's POV, I'm going to write in Amanda's eventually*
As Amanda and I walked down the hall we passed Alice who gave me a reassuring smile. We exited the school and hurried through the parking lot, trying to stay as dry as possible. Of course, my definition of hurrying was much different than hers, which I found funny in an odd sort of way. Clearly I'm psychotic.
I pointed out which car was mine and I could sense her admiration. I didn't really like to draw attention to myself or flaunt anything; my car was actually the least ostentatious of all our cars. Put my Mustang next to Alice's new yellow Porsche and no one notices the Mustang, which is fine with me.
I opened the door for her to get in. She seemed surprised and I didn't understand why. Did everyone else just ignore her existence? I dashed to the other side of the car, got in, and started the ignition. "You're really too nice, you know," Amanda stated as I backed the car up. "How so?" I inquired. "Offering to take me home, opening the door. Things like that," she said. "I was raised to be a gentleman," I shrugged, which is quite true. Growing up in the mid 19th century had instilled chivalry in my brain.
I reached down to turn the heat on. I tended to forget that people with live bodies get cold. She gave me directions to her house, I remembered seeing the neighborhood. There were a lot of old Victorian homes in that area, if I remembered correctly. I never cared much for Victorian architecture, it was so excessive. One of the best things about being a vampire was being able to ramble in my head and still being able to pay attention and participate in a conversation about Voltaire. It almost cancelled out the part about being a bloodsucking monster. Almost.
A few moments later I pulled into the driveway of a Victorian I had passed by several times before. It looked like an interesting house, even if it wasn't my taste. "Kind of gaudy isn't it?" she smirked as I pulled the keys out of the ignition. I chuckled, "It's interesting, though."
"Come on and I'll go find your book," she said, climbing out of the car. I followed suit, following her up the handful of stairs to the large porch. "You didn't let me open the door for you this time," I pointed out, pretending to be hurt. She made a face at me at unlocked the door with a key. I hesitated in the doorway, although I wasn't sure why, didn't want to seem presumptuous, I suppose.
"You can come inside, I don't bite," she said, gesturing indoors. No, but I do, I thought. Nonetheless, I followed her through the hallway into a large living room with an adjoining kitchen. It was as clean as a hospital and rather sparsely decorated with neutral colors. The minimalism was quite a contrast from the rather flamboyant exterior.
"I must've left it in my room," she said, dashing up the stairway that was between the kitchen and the living room. I followed her, unsure of what else to do. I hated feeling so awkward, it was unusual for me. Her room turned out to be totally different from the rest of the house.
The walls were a light grey and covered in framed old black and white photographs of cathedrals and other old buildings. I immediately was drawn to the three large bookshelves in assorted corners. While most of the room was in black and white, there were also sporadic red items, like the bedspread. It was interesting. Lots of things about her seemed to interest me.
I immediately began looking at her collection of books. "No, don't look at those," she whined, "You'll think I'm a total nerd!" "Fine, I won't look, just tell me what all you have here," I compromised, eager to learn what all was in this moderate sized library she had accumulated. "History and art history, Philosophy, and fiction," She elaborated, looking up from rummaging on her desk and waving her arm to each shelf as she named it.
"You collect old pictures?" I guessed. "Yeah, old architectural ones," she confirmed, finally finding my book under whatever she had piled on the desk. "I've got some you should look at sometime," I offered, "They're not of buildings, but they're still pretty interesting." I was talking about my old family photos, the ones I had taken from my parents' house after they died.
Before she could say anything, I noticed a really cool feature of the house. "I've always wanted my window to overlook the roof like this," I declared, "I'd go out there all the time!" I was rather embarrassed by my little outburst, I was used to being the suave one and letting my siblings do all the spazzing. At least she didn't seem to think anything of it. "That's where I do most of my reading," she explained, "Wanna see? There's a really cool spot that the rain doesn't get to."
Before I could answer, she had opened the window and was climbing through it, onto the wet roof. "Should you really be doing this in the rain?" I asked, peering out the window after her, "If you slip and fall I'll feel guilty." "Psh, if I didn't do it in the rain I'd never get to, with how much it rains here," she laughed as she walked on the flatter part of the roof. I shrugged and followed her; I didn't have to worry much about me slipping.
She cautiously made her way to a section of the roof where the third story overlapped the second story roof and created a moderate sized awning that was sheltered perfectly from the rain. She ducked down under it and sat down by the wall that supported the weight of the overlap. "This is the perfect spot to read," I commented as I sat beside her. "Except one year in spring when this stupid bird decided to make its nest in the corner, so until the baby birds flew away they decided to crap all over my spot. I resented it." I laughed with her.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw her shiver slightly. I guess it was pretty cold outside, I didn't really notice anymore. I shrugged my jacket off and handed it to her, once again, she seemed surprised. "It's okay, I'd feel bad if you got hypothermia," she said, declining my offer. "Take it, I never get cold," I insisted. "Thanks, but remember you said that when you're in a hospital bed with a plummeting body temperature," she said. She pulled the jacket on and I wished I had some body heat so it would have been warm for her.
"Can I ask you a question?" she began, "if you don't wanna answer it's okay, I'm just curious." I nodded and she continued. "Why do I feel calm around you? It's almost like your presence makes me feel much calmer." "I'm not sure," I answered, trying to remain truthful, "I've been told a few times that I have that effect on people. I don't know why, though." There, that wasn't a total lie. "It's probably nothing, I'm probably just going crazy," she went on. I smiled at the irony of her remark, if only everyone else were so observant.
"Can I ask you something else?" she said, looking at me like I was going to refuse. "Go ahead." "Well, why don't you talk to anyone at school? I mean, you're nice, smart, and have a good vocabulary, so why all the secrecy?"
"I could ask you the same thing," I responded, trying to subtly dodge the question. "My answer's boring, though," she said, looking down at her hands, "Being mysterious is more exciting. People'll fill in the blanks with whatever they want, most of the time it's a lie, but it's still more entertaining than the truth." "What could be so terrible about the truth that no one can know?" I asked, wondering what kind of deep, dark secrets she could be hiding. As if it could compare to my secrets.
"Nothing exciting unfortunately, I find them all….boring. They're all satisfied with their own little world here and never wonder about other things… other places. I find their simplicity too frustrating to befriend," she said, but I could sense her slight nervousness, "We were talking about you, though, you can't get me sidetracked so easily."
I smiled and began to explain. "I've moved around a lot with Carlisle and Esme and all, so it's easier to not make friends and get attached when it's highly likely it won't be a long connection. It's better for my siblings to be my closest friends, when we move they always come too and don't stay behind." Well, that was true. Too bad I had to leave out the reason we had to move so much.
"You're adopted, aren't you?" she continued. I could tell she was a touch apprehensive, like she didn't want to offend me, but I could also see that her curiosity was innocent. "Yeah, they adopted Rosalie and me when we were 11," I explained, referring to the fact that Rose and I passed off as twins. "Our parents died in an accident."
"I'm sorry," she said quietly, pulling my jacket closer around her. I shrugged, "Things happen. Have you always lived in Forks?" I was getting desperate to turn the attention from me. And I found myself becoming increasingly more curious about this girl. "Unfortunately," she sighed, "Of all the places to grow up, it has to be here, in the town with a downtown consisting of three buildings. I live with my grandparents, and my aunt who occasionally bothers to drop by. My parents are dead, too."
"I'm sorry," I quickly began, "I didn't mean to upset you." "It's fine, like you said, things happen," she said, brushing a leaf off my jacket sleeve. It began to rain much harder than before. "We had better go inside," she said, "the rain probably isn't going to let up." We got to our and stepped out into the downpour. The roof was rather slippery, even I had noticed it. I offered my hand to her, yet another gesture that came almost naturally to me that seemed to floor her. "Thank you," she said quietly, taking my hand and letting me lead the way back to the window.
I hopped back down into her room from the window, and helped her down also. She murmured gratitude. "I guess I better head out, it's a lot later than I realized," I said, I had been there nearly two hours. It didn't make a difference to me, time was irrelevant, but I figured she probably had something to be doing. People lose a lot of time sleeping.
She nodded and handed me the book that was on the bed. "Oh, I have a book you should read!" she declared, dashing toward one of the bookshelves, only to return a second later with a book. "It's about philosophy in the middle ages," she explained, "it's interesting. Strange, but interesting." "Awesome, thank you," I remarked, following her down the stairs.
"We have an interlibrary loan thing going on," she laughed as we reached the front door. "I guess so," I smiled in agreement and opened the door to leave. "Oh, here, I almost forgot," she said, taking off my jacket, "You'll need it, it's supposed to get a lot colder before dark." "Oh, right." I said absentmindedly, taking it from her. "So I'll see you tomorrow then," I said searching for adequate words. "Yeah, I'll see ya," she smiled back at me. I strode out to my car trying to recall the last time I talked to a human for that long. Or anyone for that long, I hadn't been the most social person as of late.
Her house was just a few moments from mine, so I seemed like I was home in no time. Of course, Alice was sitting on the steps in the garage, waiting for me. "Are you planning to thank me now or later?" she grinned. "Thank you," I smiled with her, giving her a hug, "Even if you are quite, quite sneaky."