Sorry this took so long, guys, but I was gone all Christmas break, which for me was nearly a month, and then the internet went out for nearly a week...it's been a fiasco-filled month. But anywho, the next chapter!

A few days later I found myself in Amanda's living room waiting for her to finish getting ready. Today was her grandfather's funeral and I insisted on going with her. She insisted back that she was fine and I didn't have to go, but I won the argument eventually…after she got tired of talking. I knew she wanted me there more than she wanted me to know. But that argument took place after I finally convinced her she should go herself. She didn't believe me, but having the closure was really the best thing. And I should know. As a vampire, closure was a rarity.

Amanda skulked down the stairs, clearly unhappy about something. Probably a mixture of having to wear a dress and me winning the previous argument. "You clean up well," she said, gesturing to my dark suit and trying to take the attention off herself.

"Alice," I explained.

"Tell me about it," she agreed. "At least she'll be happy I wore one of the dresses she forcibly gave me at least once." I should have known Amanda's dress was Alice's doing. Although it suited her perfectly, there was no way she ever would have picked it out. It was a very simple and understated deep violet dress that looked almost gown like, but much less attention grabbing. The purple made her eyes pop in an ethereal way.

"Shut up," she said, scowling and shrugging on a jacket, not liking my gaze. Alice would have had an aneurysm if she knew Amanda had worn a beat up leather jacket with that dress. I grinned in spite of myself.

"Are you ready?" I asked.

She nodded and swung the front door open none too gently. "Ha!" she exclaimed randomly. "I so beat you to the door!! And opened it myself!!"

"I'm dying inside," I said, laughing at her demonstration of independence. But I still opened the car door for her; she didn't have a chance beating me to it. She murmured thanks and once we were driving away she began rambling off all the reasons she didn't want to go to the funeral, and why I shouldn't feel I had to come.

"There's just gonna be a lot of people there I don't want to see….a ton of people there I don't want you to meet, at least a few people who I completely loathe and don't think they deserve to live…and besides, the idea of a funeral is so antiquated. I don't need "closure" this way, sitting there for an hour isn't gonna help me with anything, except be annoyed and maybe depressed."

I halfway listened to her futile attempts of persuading me. I got the feeling she was mainly rambling anyway. "Are you quite finished?" I asked as I swung the car into a parking spot at the funeral parlor…funeral home…whatever they called it these days.

"I guess," she sulked, glowering at me as I smirked in victory. "But we're leaving as soon as it's over." I nodded and, once again, darted around and opened the door for her. She snarled as I offered her my hand, but took it anyway. Her hand always felt so warm in mine, like I was holding a fire in my palm, only without the burning sensation.

I didn't release her hand as she led me into the building and through the throngs of people, fervently ignoring everyone. She saw her grandmother's purse on one of the benches and plopped down beside it. I rested my arm on the back of the bench and placed my hand on her shoulder, in both a supportive and practical way. I concentrated on sending waves of calm through her…this was why I had insisted on coming too.

She wasn't nearly as mad at me as she was letting on; I figured she was trying to distract herself. We sat in comfortable silence for a few moments as she glared at the floor.

"It's funny how you intimidate people," Amanda mused, suddenly looking up at me.

"I do?" I asked, unaware of my newfound ability. I had gotten used to people avoiding me.

"Apparently…no one's tried to badger me yet. I should keep you on hand like this more often."

"I'd be okay with that," I countered as her grandmother, Lillian, came up and sat beside Amanda.

Amanda elbowed me in the ribs, cursed quietly when she realized that was a bad idea, and returned Lillian's greeting.

"It's lovely to see you again, Jasper," she said as she sat down beside her granddaughter.

She also thanked me for getting Amanda to come, which earned another snarl from her. I conversed lightly for a moment with the older woman. I didn't remember what I said, but Amanda later assured me it was "distressingly polite and impeccably well mannered."

Amanda's aunt, Barbara, strolled up and seated herself on the other side of Lillian. She glared in my direction and uttered a snide comment to Lillian that she didn't think I would hear. I could feel Amanda's annoyance as she slid closer to me, subconsciously trying to put more distance between her and Barbara.

As the minister began to talk, Amanda resumed glowering at the floor and my mind wandered. I found myself dwelling on the Seattle situation, wishing Alice would see something insightful. I hoped that it would dissipate on its own, but reasoned we would most likely have to act to end it. I had the underlying suspicion that Bella played a part in this, but didn't voice it. I was careful not to think of it around Edward since I had no logic behind my assumption and could do without a lecture from him.

"Ready to go?" I asked, noticing that people were standing up to leave.

"God, yes," Amanda groaned and hopped up eagerly.

I led the way out of the building with Amanda following behind. I got the feeling she was using me as a human shield to avoid speaking to anyone as we weaved around people. I chuckled at her successful endeavor as we exited the funeral home.

"And what's so funny?" she playfully demanded, matching my pace and no longer cowering behind me.

"You," I said simply.

She shrugged. "I could understand that."

I opened the car door for her. "You're really not gonna make me stay?" she asked, seeming shocked.

"You kept your end of the deal, now I'm keeping mine." I closed her car door and meandered at a painfully slow human pace to my own. "You didn't believe me?" I asked.

She shrugged mysteriously.

"You're confidence in me is so reassuring," I laughed.

"I believed you, but figured you guilt trip me into hanging around," she explained, feeling guilty as she said it. "You do have that ability, ya know."

I laughed at her. I liked how she could be so lighthearted about a rather serious subject matter. "What are we doing now?" I asked, waving a hand at the sprawling road before us.

"You're taking me home so I can get out of this awful dress, then I'm indifferent about our later activities." She paused with a bewildered expression. "I'm starting to talk like you. How bizarre that I'm beginning to pick up 19th century dialogue."

I laughed at her and accelerated the Mustang to a speed nearly three times the limit. Without slowing down I swung the car into her driveway. She didn't even seem phased.

"Nice try," she stuck her tongue out at me as she hopped out of the car. Unlike 99.9% of people, my driving had yet to alarm her and my latest undertaking was to do so. She didn't shake easily at all, which I found remarkable…as well as a challenge.

I flopped down on the beige couch downstairs, which Amanda had described once as "hopelessly dull", while she dashed upstairs to change. She reappeared a few minutes later wearing dark wash jeans, a dark red top and black boots. Not quite up to Alice's standards but I thought it looked nice.

She sat on the end of the couch opposite me, leaned against the arm and rested her legs on my lap.

"I would offer to get you something, but that seems a touch pointless," she smiled.

"Not unless you happen to have some wolf blood lying around." (A/N: I don't think the books ever say what Jasper likes to hunt and I cant think of any other large, predatory animals at the moment (or I probably could, but I'm too lazy) so a wolf it is. No pun about the werewolves intended…although that actually is pretty funny.)

"No wolves, but there's a small, yappy dog next door that I wouldn't mind see go," she suggested.

"I love it when you suggest illegal activities," I grinned.

"It's only illegal if you get caught," she insisted. "Which you wouldn't. That stupid furball would never see it coming."

"A little bitter, are we?"

"Not bitter, stupid things tend to frustrate me." She paused and smiled with an amusing thought. "High school's very painful."

I rolled my eyes and suggested we go to my place for awhile. She was getting antsy being at her home, for understandable reasons. I would have offered to take her obnoxious aunt out, but somehow I thought Amanda would seriously want me to and that would cause a lot of problems for me and the rest of my family.

She agreed and grabbed her precious leather jacket and followed me out onto the porch. She paused to grab the mail from the mailbox, glanced through it quickly, and tossed it back onto a small table in the house's entryway.

"Looking for something?" I asked.

"Kind of."

"Can I ask what?" I tried to siphon information out.

"An acceptance letter from Cornell," she answered.

"Cornell, huh?" I said thoughtfully. There's no reason she wouldn't be accepted there. There's no reason I wouldn't be accepted there, and I hadn't attended there before. The wheels in my head began to turn.

Promptly two minutes later we arrived at my house. Amanda was still unshaken by my driving, yet she seemed to be turning a slight tint of green. I laughed at her and she shot an inappropriate hand gesture in my general direction, which made the both of us laugh harder.

"I've been wanting to do that for years!" Emmett bellowed from across the yard. "The hand signal that is…not the actual...uh, yeah."

Amanda snorted at Emmett's wording and walked up to where he was standing by his Jeep. I followed her out of amusement; she and Emmett always had entertaining banter.

Amanda greeted Rosalie, who was sliding out from under the Jeep, splotchy with patches of grease. Rose returned her greeting and immediately dashed inside to clean up. She couldn't stand to look less than pristine.

"Your Jeep's looking kind of rough," Amanda pointed out, gesturing toward several dents that adorned the vehicle's surface. "They make bigger and better vehicles now, you know…like Hummers and stuff."

"You did not just diss my Jeep!" Emmett declared.

She grinned. "I might've."

"Oh, you'll pay!" he glared and took a daunting step toward her. He looked quite stern, but I could tell he wasn't going to do anything serious. But he still looked intimidating.

"Will I, now?" she glared right back and took a step towards him, too. I wondered what she must have been thinking; no human with any sense reacted that way around Emmett.

Before anymore threats could have been exchanged, Emmett scooped her up and dashed inside the house. Amanda was quite taken back by this, but wasn't worried or afraid…I was making sure of that. I followed them into the house at a more leisurely and less manic pace.

Emmett had set Amanda down in front of the computer, pulled up a chair beside her, and was demanding she help him pick out a Hummer. I rolled my eyes; leave it to him to nearly give the girl a heart attack to do nothing more than obtain help with his internet shopping. I lay down on the couch and picked up a book I had left lying on the coffee table earlier.

I found myself listening to them argue rather than concentrating on my book and instead wandered over to where they sat. They were more entertaining, anyway. Amanda, who admitted to knowing nothing about mechanical workings, was insisting one Hummer was better than the one Emmett liked.

"They're the same thing!!" Emmett argued.

"No they're not…this one's a prettier color!!" she argued back.

Emmett roared in laughter.

"It's true!" she said, looking victorious.

"You're right," he concurred. He scrolled up the screen to find the dealership's number. I held out my cell phone, anticipating his need for it.

"Get out of here, kid, they won't take me seriously if the dealer hears you say that," he laughed, dialing the number.

Amanda rolled her eyes, but was still grinning. She bopped Emmett on the back of the head as she walked away, and then made a mad dash to hide behind me. She peeked out around my arm, trying to decide if he would retaliate. He was on the phone, trying to be professional. Or as professional as Emmett was capable of.

"I think you're safe now," I offered.

"You never can tell," she grinned, still eyeing my brother suspiciously.

I chuckled at her, picked her up and went out onto the porch. I set her down gently on the stairs.

"You're so weird," I said as I sat down by her.

"You're the immortal, vegetarian vampire and I'm the weird one?" she laughed.

"I'm afraid so. Anyone else would have run screaming from Emmett when he looks so threatening."

"Meh," she said nonchalantly. "I figured if you weren't worried then I shouldn't be. Unless it's in your grand scheme for Emmett to slaughter me over vehicular insults."

"I can't say that I was planning on that," I agreed, somewhat touched that she trusted me and my strange little ability enough to associate so easily with my potentially lethal family.

We were silent a moment. I put my arm around her shoulders and lightly twisted my finger through a lock of her hair.

"This is so strange, it's like we've been together forever," she said randomly. "But I guess you'd know more about forever than I would. It's just weird we have such a comfortable…relationship. It's not awkward or strained or anything. But that could be your doing."

"I haven't done anything," I pointed out with a smile. I took her hand and kissed it lightly.

Emmett burst through the door, effectively ruining our moment. He barreled down the stairs to his Jeep, calling back to us that in a few short hours he would be the proud owner of a Hummer.

Rosalie trudged out the door behind him, clearly unhappy to be accompanying him. "See what you've done now," she said to Amanda. "It's just what he needs…the largest vehicle known to man."

Emmett called to her to hurry up, which she grudgingly did. The couple tore out of the driveway a few seconds later.

"She'll get over it," Amanda said. "She's so overdramatic."

I chuckled at her correct assessment of my sister. Alice bounded out the door a second later. I groaned. Clearly if we wanted any privacy, Amanda and I would have to move to Guam.

"I'm very disappointed in you, Amanda," Alice accused. She turned to me. "And you too, Jasper, for letting her do it."

Amanda and I stared at Alice as if she had completely lost her mind.

"Give me the jacket," she demanded, holding her hand out.

"Uh, no," Amanda responded. I had become quite confused by this odd display.

"You can give it to me," Alice began, taking a step forward, " or I can take it by force."

Amanda just stared at her.

"Never again can you be allowed to pair that abused clothing item with any wondrous garment I picked out!!" she exclaimed, looking anguished.

"Ugh, fine," Amanda groaned. "But only because I'm not in the mood to argue." She shrugged out of the jacket and gave it to Alice.

"I knew you would say that," Alice grinned smugly. "But I got you something better!!" She pulled, quite literally out of nowhere, another leather jacket.

"It's like the one you had, only better!" Alice began to ramble excitedly.

"Am I allowed to wear it with clothes you give me by force?" Amanda asked.

"Of course!!" Alice chirped. "I'll leave you alone with it now." She then vanished back inside.

"Leave me alone with it," Amanda rolled her eyes. "Like it's a new baby or something." She looked more closely at the jacket before adding, "It is nice, though." I held it out for her to put on, which she did.

"Thanks, Alice," she called, knowing my other sister had heard her.

So nothing really important happened in this chapter, I kinda forgot where I was leading from the last one, but I hope you all like it anyway!