Chapter Two: Jasper Hale
LPOV
Everything about life is an adventure.
College is a time of exploration, to find out who you are and what you want to do with your life if you don't already know. It's a time of making friends; some that will last for years, some that will end before graduation.
It was part of life.
Naturally, college isn't only about studying, education, or finding a career.
It had been a long week. I was about to start my sophomore year of college.
Yale University!
It was a big change for the girl from Los Angeles, California.
I was eighteen and I'd been in the car for a total of five days straight. My poor truck had barely survived the abuse of spilled drinks, chips crunched into the carpet, four people inside and all their belongings in the bed.
Los Angeles to New Haven, stopping in Arizona, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and then New York for the nights. I picked up my two roomies, Amber and Brittany, and another friend, Tennille (a.k.a Tenny), on the way.
Pictures of us horsing around. A picture of me driving, my big shades on, no hands on the wheel and posing with my Happy Bunny figure that described my driving perfectly: "crazy doesn't even begin to cover it."
We took turns driving and finally we were in New Haven!
I dropped Tenny off at her apartment building where she would meet her boyfriend, Taylor, who had gone ahead to move in.
Amber, Brittany, and I continued onto campus to pick up friends from last year to help us move into our own apartment. Of course the few days left of summer would be the craziest ever.
Trips to Buffalo Wild Wings, all nighters just to watch movies, parties, and preparing for class by sleeping, of course.
Each year, month, day, hour, minute, second opened your life up to new roads and routes.
I thought I was prepared for anything. After all, I had lived through one year of college already and it was the wildest of my life!
With a small amount of flirting, Amber and Brit got four freshman boys to help us move in. I didn't lower myself to such tactics. I laughed at them from a distance, shaking my head in amazement.
They knew what they were doing at least.
With help, moving in only took one day. The rest of the summer was spent at multiple parties, searching for jobs, playing hide and seek and Cops and Robbers on campus, etc.
Classes started on August 24th. I spent the day on campus, even though I only had night classes on Monday. The gorgeous day, old friends I hadn't seen in three months, I walked around a few times, but usually people recognized me by my huge burgundy Ford F-250 Super Duty.
Night fell, the sun disappeared. I sat on the bed panels of my truck, playing my guitar while my friends talked about their summer. My first class of the year was coming so fast, and I'd never been more ready for anything. College wasn't like high school.
It was harder, there was more homework, it was more intense. The people were different, the teachers were different. It was so unfamiliar.
And as Amber once said: "There was a thousand new temptations in male form."
He was instantly one for me.
I first saw him stepping out of a silver recent model Volvo. His pale skin was high lighted by the moon in all the perfect places. He looked like he stepped out of a million dollar movie.
There was no way he was anything less than a model!
He had curly blond hair, which he attempted to comb back. It was so thick that it came undone easily. High cheekbones with a firm, masculine jawline, full lips, deep, dreamy eyes. A unique kind of beauty to be sure.
He was tall, over six feet tall to be sure. Lean build, yet still slightly muscular. His blue t-shirt gently rested against his abs, showing just enough muscle. Long legs too!
He wore a pair of simple blue jeans and some expensive looking aligator skin boots, squared at the toe. His posture was absolutely perfect. A few books in his hand, and he looked like he was playing a college student in some movie, definitely a summer blockbuster that I would go see at midnight with all the eligible young bachelorettes I called friends.
Temptation indeed.
But there was something else.
His face wore a harsh mask of agony. I tried blinking to see if it was only my imagination; it wasn't. I could not determine if the pain was mental, emotional, or physical. It was just there, painted on his stunning face and never showing any hesitation.
He was with four other people, two boys and two girls. They looked nothing alike, other than sharing their white skin, but their manners insisted they were siblings.
He laughed at something the first boy, a bronze haired, lean man, did, then rubbed the second boy's buzz-cut head. The girls were watching and rolling their eyes, but it looked playful.
I waited to observe as much as I could before I had to go to class.
Soon, the second boy, huge, muscular giant with dark hair and a baby face, put his arm around the first girl's waist. She was blond, tall, perfect--the kind of girl seen on the swim suit edition of Sports Illustrated.
They were together! That much was suddenly obvious.
The second girl held the first boy's hand--also a couple.
That left him alone--no companion.
I frowned, chewing on my lip, but I knew from the start that I would never be able to understand everything about them by staring. It was never that simple.
I jumped down off my truck easily, which made two boys look my way.
Honestly! I was short, not crippled!
I shoved my guitar into the back seat of my truck, grabbed my backpack, locked the doors, and took off running for class.
I had German, then Italian, and Amber would be at home waiting while Brit worked two more hours. The first day of school was usually fun because it was the first day.
I walked into class minutes early and my heart forced its way into my throat.
He was there! And his brother or whatever he was--the first boy!
I came close to blushing when the professor told me my seat was next to his. I had no reason to object, but he made it hard to think.
He was more stiff than I previously saw, more like a corpse than just having military posture.
Well, he's white enough to be, I thought.
The professor introduced himself as Dr. Smith with a pleasant smile. He took forever calling roll. I shot a glance at my neighbor since we were on the back row. "Hey. I'm Lace," I told him quietly.
He knit his eyebrows together, but definitely not in an unfriendly way. "Lace?" he repeated with a slight Texan accent.
I nodded, hoping he wouldn't make fun of my favorite and most popular nickname. "It's short for Alice," I explained, meeting his eyes.
They were topaz. Not blue, not green, not any normal color. Topaz! And his brother's were too.
He managed a pained smile, which told me he wasn't making fun. "I'm Jasper Hale. My brother Emmett," he said, and that partially explained it. His name was as unique as my nickname and as old fashioned as the name on my birth certificate--what was there to make fun of?
"Hey," I said to Emmett, and he sent a cheesy grin back. "It's nice to meet you both."
And the conversation ended there. I didn't try to make it longer. I was satisfied for now, and the important part of class was finally beginning.
Dr. Smith began to tell us about how he would grade us, what his goals for the year were, his background, etc. He seemed like a nice guy or nice enough, just talkative and rather proud. He made a comment about my last name, Brecht, saying it was a nice Germanic name.
I only smiled.
Jasper's behavior got strange and then stranger as class went on. He started out just clenching his fists and jaw until it looked quite painful. Then he completely stopped moving, breathing, even blinking. He looked like he was having some kind of stroke. Soon, he began to lean away from me, scooting closer to Emmett with every second. He looked to be in even more pain than before, which I didn't think possible.
I glanced at Emmett to see if it was me and he shook his head with a quick smile.
With an annoyed sigh, I wrote Jasper a small note:
Are you okay?
He read it by moving only his eyes, then he nodded once, a stiff movement. hardly there.
I was unconvinced. He looked over at me as if to see if I was offended. "You're sure?" I mouthed, hoping he could read lips.
Jasper nodded again. "I'll be fine," he told me, a more honest answer. He said he would be fine, which meant he wasn't at that moment.
I smiled a bit, then turned my attention back to the professor. We had to take notes on the basics of the German language. I knew most of it already because my mother had been German. It was something to distract me from Jasper's tense position though.
If it wasn't me, why was he leaning away?
I couldn't come up with an answer. It didn't matter anyway. Jasper was one of many students at Yale; it wasn't as if I had to befriend him. That would be a choice I could make or just let fate decide, whichever.
Despite odd behavior, I still found him quite fascinating. It was deeper than just the good looks, smooth, musical voice, and it wasn't the weird manners either. There was more than that, and I was curious.
What Texan was that pale?
Maybe he's part albino, I thought, chewing on the inside o fmy lip.
Of all the students in Yale, one had capture my attention, held it, locked it up, and threw away the key: Jasper Hale.
I couldn't stop thinking about him, even after German ended. I ran out of class because one of my best friends, Shelton, was there to greet me, and we had already established that we had Italian together. Shelton was the perfect person to distract me as he went into a detailed description of his summer trip to the Bahamas to visit his grandparents, and how glad he was to be back. He even told me about a sock sliding contest where he fell over the couch, which made me laugh. He was some character!
I survived Italian only by taking the most detailed notes ever and writing down each person's name in the class, then doodling all over the notes. When that didn't work, I began to draw cartoon pictures of the professor. Then I had to try not to laugh; Shelton was the one to slip twice, dragging me down with him--his laugh was hysterical.
The night of classes ended about 10:30 PM and I went straight out to my truck. I was exhausted. I needed one full night of sleep per week, even with the most fascinating and funniest roomies alive. They always had some strange plan to make me laugh. Us three in a two bedroom apartment was probably a bad idea. Amber had been my roomie first semester of our freshman year. On the way to New Haven, we decided that we would have an average of two hours per night and not because we were studying.
Great! My stomach muscles still hurt from the ride to Connecticut.
I tossed my books into the back seat of my truck. It still showed remains of our drive from LA. I found a magazine stuffed under the seat and rolled my eyes in annoyance. Brit had whined about not being able to find it for two hours.
With a slight smile, promising to yell at Tenny, Brit, and Amber for their abuse of my beloved truck, I turned and slammed the door only to jump in fright. I put a hand over my heart, trying not to glare at Jasper. I laughed once the shock wore off.
"Sorry," he said with a lopsided grin. "I didn't mean to startle you." But he still found it funny that he did... Thanks!
"It's fine. What's up?" I asked.
Jasper leaned one hand against my truck. He was intimidating when he looked down at me like that. He was nearly a foot taller than I, which wasn't hard. I was only five foot, four inches tall. Jasper was at least six foot three. He stared down at me. "I wanted to apologize about what happened in class," he announced in the most sincere voice I'd ever heard. "I can't explain it, but I thought it was your right to hear my apologize at least and also your right to know that it was my fault, not yours."
I stared at him for a bit, then smiled gently and touched his arm in the same manner. "No, don't," I told him quickly. "It's fine. I swear, I don't mind. I've been around for some time, so believe me: people have done worse and I don't take offense easily."
Jasper ducked his head in frustration and let out a sigh. He smelled wonderful! I needed to concentrate in case he spoke and all I could do was go through the things he smelled like: a waterfall, cotton, and the green grass in a meadow. It left my mind spinning and my stomach churning. He shook his head. "No, no, Alice," he whispered. He called me Alice. Only my uncle Nathan, who raised me, called me by my real name, and even then it was my middle name. Jasper was sounding a lot like my uncle as he spoke.
"You shouldn't push it off that way. It would do you good if you got mad and never spoke to me again," Jasper insisted.
I raised one eyebrow. "Don't you think anger is a wasted emotion though?" I inquired, not shaken at all by his strange words. There was a reason for everything, right?
Jasper closed his eyes. "Alice, you have to believe me," he said.
I nodded. "It's not that I don't believe you; I don't agree with you," I responded with a small shrug. "Why are you telling me this anyway?"
"Because it could save your life if you would just listen," he snapped.
I fell silent, meeting his eyes to find out the truth. They showed conflicting emotions and stories, and I could read nothing with certainty.
Jasper looked away as his siblings came into view. "I'm not the kind of person you should be around. I'm dangerous. Can't you see that?"
I shook my head and he looked like he was about to explode with anger. I smiled sadly, waiting for him to meet my eyes. "You wouldn't still be here if it was that bad," I pointed out softly, knowing he would want to argue, but I wouldn't listen. He felt guilty without reason. I wanted to help him because he showed a distorted figure of himself, which I couldn't comprehend.
Jasper sighed deeply. "Alice, please. You must believe me. Please, don't ever trust me, not in the smallest, least important way."
I looked away. "Don't worry. I don't trust many people," I replied, staring at his hands instead of his face. I cleared my throat and flashed him a quick smile. "Jasper, you may believe you're a danger to me, but you're not. I can see that."
"That's just it! I'm not what I appear to be."
I scoffed. "We can argue about this all night or we can agree to disagree."
"Or I can leave," Jasper muttered, but it was obviously an empty threat. He looked at me. "I have no hope in convincing you otherwise then?" he pressed.
"Afraid not."
Jasper seemed furious.
"I'm going out with some friends Saturday to do some shopping, then we're going to my place to watch a few movies," I told him patiently, and he was listening. He could decline, of course, and I was prepared for that. I thought he would. "You should come along. I mean, it's supposed to rain tons this weekend, but when did rain ever destroy a good shopping trip?"
Jasper straightened his posture so he was no longer leaning on my truck. He looked like he was about to refuse.
"You can bring all the people you want. My apartment isn't exactly huge, but we can still have a good time," I continued.
Jasper rolled his eyes. "What would I have to tell you to make you believe me?" he asked instead of replying to my invitation.
"I already told you that I do believe, and you don't have a chance, Jasper Hale. I'm very stubborn and I know how to help someone cheer up. You wouldn't be telling me this if there wasn't something eating at you, enough to go off on how dangerous you are. Besides, I do know that Emmett would agree if I invited him," I said, challenging him, but he needed to hear from someone that he wasn't some frightening monster because he wasn't at all. He could use some society, some friends, maybe a few drinks, etc. The real college life!
Jasper frowned, then scowled at me. "And if I decline?"
"Then that's that," I replied with another shrug. "We're meeting here at nine in the morning. If you happen to change your mind by Saturday, I won't have any objection." I opened the driver's door and stepped in, but he closed it with no answer again, which also meant no promise that he wouldn't come. I waved and pulled out of my parking space easily, despite the size of my truck. In my side view mirror, I saw Jasper was still standing in the exact same place, watching me.
I smiled to myself.