"How does it feel to be an alumnus?" Jasper asked as he held the car door open for me.
"Liberating. I'm just glad I didn't trip," I answered. "But I'm sure it's all old for you by now. What's this, like your fifteenth time around?"
He scrunched his face up and I laughed. "I can't remember. Something like that, anyway. I'll have to ask Esme, I imagine she keeps track of it."
I couldn't think of a witty reply so I sat in a silent stupor and gazed out the window.
"Ha!" he exclaimed randomly. My perplexed expression prompted him to explain. "I win! I SO have three points now!"
I snorted in laughter. "Yeah, the score's getting really close now…your three to my seven trillion. Way to go, Jasper!"
He smiled smugly and swung the car into the Cullen's long, wooded driveway. Lights had been strung up in the trees. It reeked of Alice. I imagined that Bella would die when she saw it.
"You guys have way too much free time," I commented.
"You'd be amazed at how much not sleeping frees up our schedules."
He flitted around the car and opened my door. I knew it was just a time period thing, but it still kind of irked me he was constantly doing things like that. I didn't like feeling dependant. But some girls had significant others who didn't acknowledge their existence, so I guessed I couldn't complain.
None of the kids from school had arrived yet, only the usual occupants were inside the Cullen house. I didn't understand why on earth Alice wanted to throw this party; I knew I wouldn't want those people anywhere near where I lived. And the four of us who had graduated didn't care celebrating it one bit. I figured it was mainly for Bella…who also didn't want the party, but was really too polite to seriously object. Alice would pounce on any reason to decorate.
"Amanda! I need you to sample the food!" Alice chirped the second I was in the door. The nightclub-esque scene that used to be the living room turned into a blur as Alice whisked me away from Jasper and to a long table covered in food.
"Don't you already know?"
"And why would I eat this?" Alice feigned disgust as I sampled the snacks.
"No, I mean, wouldn't you know if people wouldn't like it?" I elaborated.
Gah, you'd think the fortune teller could at least see what I meant. Edward snorted from across the room. Jasper rolled his eyes and leaned back against the wall.
"It's all good to me, Alice," I informed her while I snacked on a mini quesadilla thing. As if she needed my telling her that. I crossed the room to stand by the wall with Jasper.
Edward groaned and glared in our general direction. "Jasper wants to talk to you. There, now she knows and you can quit dwelling over it!" Edward flailed his arms exasperatedly to emphasize the point.
I quirked an eyebrow at Jasper, who was too busy glaring at his brother to notice.
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that," Edward said, going back to his book.
Jasper smirked and looked pleased with himself before taking my hand and leading me up the stairs. I had begun to worry a little, maybe one of those relationship talks were coming where the other person tries to tactfully say they completely loathe the other person.
"It's nothing like that," Jasper soothed in his quiet voice as he shut the door to his room behind us.
I still couldn't quell my anxiousness as I tensely stood by his desk.
"So…?" I asked, unsure of what else to say.
"Will you calm down, it's nothing horrific," he smiled slightly. "I swear, your mood swings are catastrophic."
I glared at him. He was stalling. And doing a pretty good job.
He sat on the bed and motioned for me to join him, which I did. Then he stood up and began to pace in a small circle. He took a deep breath, which I found ironic, even in spite of the anxiety.
"You're not pregnant, are you?" I asked in an attempt to lighten the mood.
"Er, no." He gave me a look that clearly said he thought I was a lunatic.
I shrugged.
He opened a dresser drawer and pulled out a small box. I was curious about what it contained; I already had an engagement ring. I hoped it wasn't a severed body part. Kind of like how the cat dragged dead rats home and left them on the porch thinking they were presents for us. But I didn't think Jasper would see a finger or something as a gift. Or at least not until closer to Halloween, anyway.
"It was my mother's," he explained quietly and handed me the box. He sat beside me and I gingerly pulled the lid off. Inside was a delicate silver chain with a petite amethyst in a teardrop-like shape.
"It's beautiful," I smiled at him.
Jasper held my hair up with one hand and clasped the necklace around my neck with the other. He kissed my cheek before letting my hair fall back down.
"Why were you so nervous about this? You knew I'd love it."
"It was my mother's," he said again. "It brings up…memories. Alice ran across a box of my things a few weeks ago that I had thrown in there because I didn't want to deal with it, and persuaded me to go through it. To be so little she's really quite convincing. Doing so I remembered things about being human that I had forgotten. I remembered seeing my mother wear this necklace all the time, a memory that I had completely lost.
"I almost threw the whole box out. Over the years I've developed a natural habit of avoiding thinking about my human past because it hurt… it reminded me that I shouldn't be here now. But I realized, after I found the necklace, that it doesn't hurt anymore to remember and I don't think I'm a terrible blood sucking monster. Maybe I do deserve to live after all. And it's because of you."
"I'm just glad I could do something for you," I mumbled. I was almost speechless.
"I'm sorry it took so long to get it to you, I took it to a jeweler's to get cleaned and it took forever," he rolled his eyes and chuckled softly. "Damn mortals."
"Thank you," I smiled and glided a finger over the chain.
"My pleasure." He looked thoughtful for a second. "My little speech didn't sound too corny, did it? I was worried I'd mess it up, it sounded good in my head."
I snorted in laughter and assured him it was fine before leaning up to kiss him, only to be interrupted by Emmett's burst into the room.
"Emmett!" I glowered. "You ruined our moment!"
"At least someone's scoring around here!!!!" he grinned and appeared abnormally victorious. Jasper and I shot him revolted expressions. Way too much information.
"Anyway, people are starting to get here and Alice wants Amanda to come down and "mingle" or something," he continued, putting finger quotes around the word mingle.
I reluctantly followed him to the doorway. I still wasn't up for the idea of a party, but I could go peaceably or Emmett could drag me downstairs. Talk about a grand entrance.
"You're not coming?" I asked, turning to see Jasper's lack of movement.
"I'll stay up here awhile longer."
I didn't ask why, he had his reasons, although I was curious.
Luckily Bella had arrived a bit before I came in, so she was the center of attention. People clustered around her and chatted excitedly…probably asking about her cast. Edward and Jasper were gathered in a corner and looked deep in discussion. Neither of them looked happy and I assumed it was about the newborns. Emmett was standing by the food table so I went to join him.
I smacked him on the arm as soon as I was in arm's length of him.
"Ow! What was that for?!" he knowingly overreacted. Drama queen.
"First off, there's no way that hurt you, and second it's for ruining my moment!" I pretended to be upset.
"You're such a weird little person." Emmett shook his head.
"Right, because you're so normal."
I saw Mike Newton eavesdropping on our conversation out of the corner of my eye. Emmett smiled at him and Mike got a freaked out expression and quickly piled his plate with food and dashed off.
As soon as he was gone, Emmett and I busted into laughter.
"You can't be mad at me, I'm your favorite big brother!" he exclaimed and engulfed me in a bear hug.
"Besides," he muttered while I was still crushed to him, "who else can scare off little dorks just like that?!"
I continued my laughing fit as soon as he released me and I could breathe again. "So true, yet another reason why you're my favorite brother. Even if you never let me drive the Hummer. If Edward had a Hummer he'd let me drive it!"
"Now you're just being silly."
"But you promised!" I whined.
Alice sauntered down the stairs and weaved gracefully through the crowd to me. "We have to talk," she said urgently and took my wrist in her tiny hand. She led me over to where Bella was congregated with three huge guys.
"Ugh, werewolves," Alice groaned. So these were the wolves I'd heard so much about. For all the hoopla about them I had always felt gypped that I never got to see them.
"I need to talk to you," she murmured to Bella, ignoring the three guys…wolves…whatever.
"Er, Jake, I'll see you later," Bella mumbled as I turned to leave, followed by Bella and Alice.
"Hey, not so fast," the guy in front said. Apparently he was the Jacob I'd heard so much about. He tossed his arm out in front of me and Alice and braced his hand against the wall to block our passing.
"Excuse me?" Alice asked, glaring up at him. I quirked an eyebrow. I'd never seen Alice mad, this could get interesting.
Quite suddenly, Jasper appeared on the other side of Jacob's arm. It was the only time I'd ever seen him actually look scary…like a vampire. If looks could have killed, Jacob would be six feet under already. Jacob lowered his arm, he seemed fond of the idea of keeping it. Jasper closed the gap between us, still glaring daggers at Jacob.
"Looks like the bloodsuckers snagged another one," he said, gesturing to me. I rolled my eyes, Jasper continued to glare.
"Let's go," Alice commanded in a stern voice I'd never heard from her before.
"We have a right to know what's going on," Jacob insisted, shifting his glare to Alice. Jasper stepped in front of the three of us, never taking his eyes of Jacob. The three wolves tensed.
"Hey, hey," Bella said with a bizarre chuckle. "This is a party, remember?"
No one listened to her. Jacob continued glaring at Alice, seemingly oblivious to being stared down by Jasper. All this tension was giving me a headache, I could only imagine how it felt to Jasper.
"It's okay, Jasper. He actually has a point," Alice quipped suddenly and looked thoughtful. Jasper didn't look convinced and didn't relax his position.
"What did you see, Alice?" Bella asked, looking nervous.
Alice pulled Bella in closer so the four of us made a loose circle. Apparently she had decided to let the wolves hear. "The decision's been made."
"You're going to Seattle?" Bella asked.
"No."
What little pigment that had been in Bella's face was gone, she looked horrified. Jasper took a subconscious step closer to me.
"They're coming here," Bella said quietly, almost in disbelief.
"Yes," Alice confirmed.
"To Forks."
"Yes."
"For?"
"One carried your red shirt," Alice explained.
Jasper looked…disapproving, I knew he didn't like talking about this in front of the wolves. "We can't let them come that far. There aren't enough of us to protect the town."
"I know," Alice said, disheartened. "But it won't matter where we stop them. There still won't be enough of us, some of them will come here to search."
"No!" Bella whispered. "Alice, I have to go. I have to get away from here."
"That won't help," Alice argued. "It's not like we're dealing with a tracker. They'll still come looking here first."
"Then I have to go meet them! If they find what they're looking for, maybe they'll go away and not hurt anyone else!" Bella insisted, earning bewildered stares from all of us.
"Bella!" Alice protested.
"Hold it," Jacob said. "What is coming?"
"Our kind. Lots of them," Alice explained curtly.
"Why?"
"For Bella. That's all we know."
"There are too many for you?"
"We have a few advantages, dog," Jasper said lowly and dangerously. "It will be an even fight."
"No, it won't be even," Jacob smiled.
"Excellent!" Alice hissed, looking hopeful for the first time in this discussion. "Everything just disappeared, of course. That's inconvenient, but, all things considered, I'll take it."
"We'll have to coordinate," Jacob continued. He was pretty annoying. I didn't think I liked him. "It won't be easy for us. Still, this is more our job than yours."
"Wait, wait, wait, wait," Bella interrupted. "Coordinate?"
Bella and Jacob argued for a moment, Jacob anxious to fight and Bella anxious for him not to. Alice joined in and I zoned out for a moment, lost in my own thoughts. Jasper sensed my mounting worry and took my hand. I felt instantly calmer as they discussed meeting.
"Later tonight?" Jacob asked.
"Yes," Jasper agreed. " We were already planning a…strategic meeting. If you're going to fight with us you'll need some instruction."
"No!" Bella groaned. Everyone ignored her.
"This will be odd," Jasper mused, "I never considered working together. This has got to be a first."
"No doubt about that," Jacob continued. "We've got to get back to Sam. What time?"
"What's too late for you?"
The three wolves snorted. "What time?" he repeated.
"Three o'clock?"
"Where?"
Jasper explained where the meadow was.
"We'll be there," Jacob said and the three turned to leave.
As Jasper led me away upstairs I heard Bella faintly pleading for Jacob to reconsider.
He shut the door once we were in his room and began to rummage around in the pile of clothes on the floor. I always bothered him about having all the time in the world to organize and he still used the floor as a shelf. But now didn't seem the time, he was too worried.
"Here," he said, thrusting an envelope into my hands. I opened it and read the stub of paper inside. A plane ticket. To Canada. My eyes widened and I looked at him nervously, expecting a hell of an explanation.
"In case things go…badly," he said somberly. He pulled out his wallet and removed a few papers and a credit card, then handed them to me along with the car keys. "Keep all this with you until everything's over. I want you to be able to make a quick getaway."
I was suddenly terrifyingly anxious. Did he not think he was coming back? I glanced down at the papers. Fake IDs. He had had my last name changed, to match his on the credit card. Amanda Hale.
"So you won't have any problems and can get anything you need," he explained quietly and sat beside me on the bed. I buried my face in his shoulder and fought back the urge to burst into tears. He didn't really think he was going to die, did he?
He wrapped an arm around me and smoothed my hair. "Don't worry; I'm expecting it all to go fine. Or as fine as it can go, anyway. I just want to…cover all the bases. Alice can't see now and I can't risk anything happening to you. Canada's close enough that I can be there relatively fast if you need me, but still far enough that the newborns won't follow."
I took a deep breath and tried to compose myself. "Where will I be during the…fight?"
"I don't know yet," he confessed quietly. "You can't stay here, or at your house either. The safest thing would be to take you somewhere far out in the mountains, but you can't be left there alone…just in case. I can't stay with you, I want to but they need me too much. I don't know what's going to happen."
He was trying to hide it, but his features gave away his desperation.
Oooh, another cliffhanger!! Sorry the update took so long, I've been swamped with school. And I admit I quoted a bit from 'Eclipse' because I didn't wanna rewrite that whole conversation, so don't sue me and we'll all be happy.