A/N: a new chapter! this has minimal angst, which might make some of you happy. i really enjoyed writing this for some reason. probably because there's a lot of jasper in it. but read and enjoy!
song: pony by erin mccarley

BPOV

"Hey, Bella, what's up?" Alice's voice chirped from the other end of the line. She had been calling and calling every single day for two weeks now. I needed to start screening the caller I.D. Not that I minded chatting with Alice, but every time I answered the phone she had nothing really important to talk to me about. I sighed.

"Hi, Alice. I'm not really doing anything. Nothing new has happened since last time you called, which was exactly an hour ago." My tone was monotonous, and I knew I needed to inject a little enthusiasm into my voice to keep Alice somewhat content.

"Cool," she said quickly, as if she hadn't heard me at all. "Well, the reason I'm calling is to ask you if you're busy. Jasper's dropping by your house to borrow a…um…your Chemistry book."

"My Chem book?" I asked skeptically. "But Jasper's a senior, Alice."

"Not for him, for me," she clarified. "I never turned that project in last week and I've left my book at school. You don't mind, right?"

"I guess not," I said. "When will you guys be here?"

She paused for a minute, and I thought maybe she accidentally hung up. "Actually, Jasper's coming alone. I just, uh, painted my nails. I can't drive with wet toes. You know, what with there being a law about driving shoe-less. Charlie's probably taught you all about that."

"There's such a thing called flip-flops, Alice," I laughed, twirling a strand of hair around my pointer finger mindlessly.

"It's December, Bella," she scoffed. "What, do you want me catching pneumonia?"

"I'll talk to you later," I said tolerantly, ignoring her rambling. I had been out of school, and I was wasting homework time talking with her on the telephone. We said our goodbyes, and I sighed as I ended the call. Alice had been over quite a bit lately. Even though I hated to admit it, her energy kept me grounded. She was the little, chipper ray of sunshine that I needed to keep my sanity, and every time she was around, I felt like I had a little piece of Edward with me. It sounded stupid—probably because it was—but it was true.

The days I'd been without him were hell. Absolute, total, burning hell. I missed him. I could have concocted lines of poetic metaphors describing exactly how I missed him, but in my heart I knew that those three words were adequate enough. I missed him, and I loved him. Having his sister around so often reminded me that he wasn't mine anymore, but it was still comforting. It felt nice to know that not everyone in the Cullen family wanted me dead.

Alice swore that everything was fine. She even said that things would get better eventually, although I highly doubted that. Edward had been gone for a week while I was still going to school regularly, and that made things even worse. Knowing that I was the reason he was hiding killed me. His words echoed in my mind like a broken record, stabbing me a little less gently every time. But as the time did pass—and pass, it did—my wounds started to heal. Sort of. The look on his face when he told me he hated me, the tone of his voice when he called me a slut…it all hurt a little less each time I remembered it. Maybe because all along I knew that he didn't truly mean it. Maybe time would heal the wounds completely, not scarring, but just completely healing as if there'd never been a wound in the first place. Maybe. But I knew things could never be the same. Alice would always be there--that was a fact. Her initial aversion to me was completely null and void now, and she was seemingly super-glued to my hip. Her perkiness was no longer an annoyance, as I pretended it was, but a rather profound blessing. I clung to her, hoping that maybe if I did, Edward would come back to me. Or at least come back to school.

*

My walk of shame from Edward's bedroom, with the feel of him still on the insides of my thighs, started the tears all over again. I tried with everything I had to stifle my hysteric sobbing, shoving my knuckles into my mouth as the tears clouded my vision. I'd tiptoed past Alice's room, nearly sprinting down the stairs trying to make a beeline for the door. And that's when I saw her.

Esme.

She stood in her open doorway, looking beautiful in a freesia-colored blouse, a look of complete pity evident on her features.

"Sweetheart, do you--," she began.

I threw up a hand to stop her as I continued walking, a sob ripping through my chest. "Stop," I meant to scream, but it came out as a broken whisper. "I can't do this." I wished that her face had been the last thing I saw as I threw open the heavy front door. But instead, it was the hook with my name above it written on Scotch tape, empty and never to be taken by one of my coats again.

I almost didn't make it home before collapsing on my bedroom floor, exactly where Edward had tumbled to the ground after the first time he'd crawled through my window.

*

The next Monday rolled by after I walked out of Edward's life. I sat in my chair in the coldness of the classroom, the fluorescents pounding on the white, expansive desktop that stretched in front of me. I stared at his empty seat on my right, the thickness in my chest building as I bit heavily down on my lip. Six days, and still nothing.

Alice would rub my shoulder when she passed me in the hall, Jasper giving me little reassuring smiles. Emmett, however, was a different story. He stared at me with hateful eyes from across the lunch table, Rose at his side with an identical expression. Emmett was usually so friendly and sweet that the sneer he consistently wore in my presence looked like it belonged to someone else. I guess I deserved it. I had hurt his only brother, the one who had to watch his younger sibling waste away in his bedroom because his flaky high school girlfriend had chosen to deceive him. Edward had screamed and yelled and pushed me away, but if at any second he chose to take them back, I'd be in his arms again. But Emmett would never know that, and neither would Rosalie. I would just keep betting on Alice.

I stayed home Tuesday. I hadn't planned on it, but for some reason, when I woke up that morning, I knew school was out of the question. Mike Newton in my English class was continually edging his seat closer and closer to mine, and it was damn annoying. I had no idea how the moron even tested into an AP class, but it was further evidence that the odds were stacked against me. Alice looked on sympathetically as I sat alone. Lunch was hellish now that Emmett had decided that he hated me, and Rosalie's eyes were enough to make me suddenly need a trip to the bathroom. I worried that the day I decided to stay home would be the day Edward would finally return, but the warmth of my bed Tuesday morning was too much to resist. I knew that if I could sleep a little while longer, maybe I could avoid something.

That something was a new picture that I saw, without fail, every single goddamn time I closed my eyes.

It was Edward. Or rather, not Edward in his entirety, but just one part of him. I saw his eyes. The perfect green of his eyes were branded on the backs of my eyelids ever since the day I ran from his front porch, and nothing was helping. I couldn't tell Alice, because she'd either laugh at me or feel sorry for me. It was beyond embarrassing. If Edward hadn't been skipping school, I would have assumed that he was already over the whole thing. I was certain that he didn't have weird, creepy hallucinations of me every time he blinked. But I did, and I had to deal with it. Tuesday, the day that I stayed away from Forks High School, was the day that Jasper came by.

"Hey, Bella!" he chirped enthusiastically when I answered the door. It was so unlike him, so…happy, that I knew it was something Alice had put him up to.

"Um, hi, Jasper," I mumbled, scratching my head with confusion. "Alice mentioned you were stopping by."

He pushed past my arm that I stretched across the doorway and over the threshold, shrugging out of his coat and tossing it over the stair railing. "Yeah, I know," he babbled nervously. "She mentioned something about, um, a bottle of hairspray? No, that wasn't it. A copy of Moby Dick? Damn it, that's not it either."

"A Chemistry book," I said, helping him. "She needs my Chemistry book."

"Yes, that was it, I think," he stuttered, wiping his brow with one hand. He shifted awkwardly in place, moving his weight from one foot to the other. Just the way he moved made me anxious, and I wondered what was wrong. His rambling about hair spray and English literature confirmed my suspicions. Obviously he and Alice had been over exactly how he was going to gain entry into my house, coming up with several options.

"Do you want to tell me what's going on, Jasper?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

He exhaled a gust of warm, tobacco-scented air, shoving his hands into the pockets of his dark trademark straight-legged jeans. "About?"

"Oh, come on," I whined. "You know what I'm talking about. I'm not stupid, and you're sweating like hell. Tell me what's going on."

"I promised I wouldn't tell…"

"You and I both know that shit will hit the fan eventually. Alice has been calling me around forty-three times per second. I know something's up, and it's only a matter of time before I find out."

Jasper paced, darting in and out of the kitchen, a torn look on his face. His wet sneakers squeaked loudly against the linoleum. "Bella, she'll kill me," he pleaded, his blonde brows knitting together.

"Secrets aren't really doing any of us any good, are they?" I countered. He stopped in his tracks, a sadness taking over his face as he looked at me with the same damn sympathy that everyone was looking at me with. He looked just like Esme had when I passed her to drive home, sans purple blouse and caramel high-lights.

"I guess not," he muttered, looking to his feet. A moment of silence passed as I watched him deliberate. "Okay, fine!" he blurted, and I felt myself smiling.

"Let's sit," I invited, gesturing to the tiny kitchen table big enough for just Charlie and me. He smiled hesitantly, folding his lanky frame into a little wooden chair across from mine. I pulled my knees towards my chin, wrapping my arms around them as I waited for him to speak.

He looked at me, obviously thinking I would initiate the conversation, and getting flustered when I didn't. "Um, okay, let's see…" Pause. "You want to know why I'm here? Is that it?"

"What do you think?" I said, heavy on the sarcasm. I felt bad for being so blunt with the kid, because I knew that he was just serving as Alice's little minion and not acting on his own.

"Okay…the abridged or full length version?"

"Do you have time to tell me all of it?"

"I think I could make some," he said earnestly.

"Alright, fine. Lay it on me."

"I'm just going to tell you the objective rather than get into detail about all of Alice's schemes. You know how she can be." Rather than sounding spiteful, his voice as he spoke of Alice was tolerant and almost reverent. "Just promise you won't get mad or cry or anything?"

"You're freaking me out, Jasper," I said with caution, straightening in my seat.

"No, no, no. Don't be worried. It's just that Alice…well, you know how she gets. She, uh, she feels really guilty."

"For what?"

"For what happened. With you. And Edward."

"Oh," I said, my face dropping. "I see."

"Don't be upset!" he said quickly, leaning towards me slightly before drawing back again. "I wasn't supposed to come here and make you sulky or anything like that. Now get this, Alice wants to find a loophole."

"A loophole?" I asked skeptically.

"Yeah. She sort of commissioned me to be in her Justice League or whatever. She wants to try and get you and Ed back together." He looked pleased with himself, leaning back in his chair with a lazy smile. But his expression changed as he watched mine.

"This is none of your concern," I spat, my cheeks flaming. "You and Alice can't just run my life for me. It's over. It's dead, and Edward and I are never going to be together. So stop giving me hope when there isn't any in the first place."

"So you have hope?" he asked, grinning. The boy was relentless. Alice was really rubbing off on him.

"It's a closed book, Jasper."

"I don't believe that."

"You don't? Or Alice doesn't?"

He sighed, shifting in his chair. "Okay, look. When I first signed onto this project, I was pissed. I was manipulated into it. Alice wouldn't help me get my rocks off unless I promised. Sorry, that was gross. But anyway, now things are different. I want to help you."

"And why is that?" I asked.

"Because you're my friend, Bell," he answered quietly. "I mean, I consider you one. We don't talk often or anything like that. But you help my girl. You're what I can't be for her, you know? Anyone that helps my girl is a friend of mine."

"Jasper, I…" I trailed off. I had never known that Jasper Hale even gave me the time of day, and through my frustration, I couldn't help but be touched.

"Don't get mushy on me, please. I can't handle anymore of that than I already have." His smiled crookedly, his blue eyes dancing. "But Edward's a mess, Bella. He really is. Al says you think that he doesn't care one way or another, but you should see the kid."

"What's wrong with him?" I yelped, the vision of his broken green eyes clear in my mind.

"He's…he's a basket case. Like, really. Picture, like, Hilary Swank in that movie after Gerard Butler dies. That's Edward, in female form."

"P.S., I Love You? Really, Jasper?" I laughed, covering my sadness with a joke.

"It's all Alice, I swear," he chuckled, his face falling into a serious stare after his laughter died. "But honestly, Bella. He needs you. You need him. And neither of you have the balls to do something about it, so I'm here to help."

"I doubt that this was what Alice meant to happen. She probably would have used a little bit more discretion," I said.

"She didn't come because she knew she'd ruin everything. I was supposed to play a little game with your head to trick you into meeting up with him or something like that, but I don't do that kind of shit," he answered, his voice thick.

"I can't do this," I whispered. I could feel the tears coming, and I didn't try to bite them back. "I can't do this anymore, Jasper."

"Yes! Yes, you can! Don't you get it?" I couldn't see his face, but his voice was loud and trilling. "Bella, don't be stupid. You want Edward. Edward's a mess without you. He looks like hell. You both said things you didn't mean, and you just need time to heal. So heal. Stop talking about it and just do it for yourself."

I looked up slowly, shocked by the wisdom of his words. Jasper was usually so relatively calm, deep beneath the surface but otherwise smooth on the outside. He had a temper, sure, but I had rarely seen it since Alice was around him. But now, as he spoke to me, his words were so harsh and so abrasive and so fucking true that it shocked me. "You're…you're right," I sighed, meeting his eyes.

"I know I am," he answered, smiling in a way that was reassuring rather than condescending. "Let me help. I swear I won't let you down."

My faint smile straightened. "No. You're right. I need to heal. But I can't have you and Alice doing my dirty work for me."

"Fine, then," he muttered, his face hard. "I'm going to help you, Bella. I'm not trying to take your will away, but I know that this is right. I'm going to help, and you can't do anything about it."

"Jasper--,"

"See you later, Bella," he said, walking out of the kitchen.

I followed him.

"And, Bella?" he asked, throwing open the storm door.

"What?" I spat. "What more do you want? You're already trying to fuck up my life more so than it already is."

"I just wanted to tell you that you should probably come back to school now. Edward's coming back tomorrow."

And then he was gone. And he didn't even take my Chemistry book with him.

APOV

I had no idea what I was going to do with Edward.

He'd been flittering around all week, pounding me for details about Bella whenever he wasn't crying and moping in his room, and I continually lied to him. "I have no idea what you're talking about," I'd answer before going back to avoiding him like I had been. In all honesty, I felt bad for him. I would be willing to bet my Balenciaga that it was a pride thing. Most boys beat each other up and then shared a beer. But my brothers…well, they were always a bit more dramatic. But I guess that ultimately it was all my fault, anyway, so I had no room to judge.

After the intervention, Edward and I had finally made up with each other. That night, after Jasper took me to dinner, I decided that once and for all, I would do something for Edward that would make his life better. He was perpetually digging a hole in the center of the only chance at something good that he had, and I couldn't let him do it any longer. But I knew that, at least for now, I had to avoid him. I had a big mouth, and I knew that he wouldn't be any happier about my involvement in his issues than Bella would be.

We all sat together at the island every morning before school, Edward sulking and Emmett trying his very hardest to ignore his brooding brother. It was beyond ridiculous. Esme tried to get away from the thick layering of tension that hovered over the three of us as soon as she was finished serving breakfast, and I really couldn't blame her. But we couldn't complain, because Edward had been skipping meals altogether until everyone had gone to bed, and we were thankful that he was at least joining us for breakfast. I would finish up and leave for school, as would Emmett, but Edward just climbed the stairs to his room again and hid underneath his covers until dinnertime.

*

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do," I whined to Jasper as we drove to school on Wednesday morning. I had volunteered to pick him up this morning after Edward had promised he'd come in second hour with Esme's car. "What if he doesn't show? What if she doesn't show?"

"Don't worry," Jasper replied. "I talked to her. She'll come. The only thing I'm worried about is Edward. You didn't tell him Bella's coming back, did you?"

"No," I sighed, crossing my ankles. "Poor kid has no idea what the hell is going on. I knew that I couldn't tell him. He'd chicken out."

"Maybe you should just…tell him, Al."

"What? No! That's insane! He'll move to Antarctica." He snickered at my stubbornness, cracking the window to torch up a cigarette. The wind seeped in violently, making the warmth of the Volvo suddenly uncomfortable.

"This is going to get messy, I'm telling you. Especially since Rose is involved, and you know that she's not one to hold back." He ran a hand through his wild mane of hair, blowing a stream of smoke through the open window.

"She wouldn't say anything, would she? It's not her business. She doesn't even know what's going on with Edward."

"I beg to differ, little lady. Didn't you mention something about talking to Emmett about everything last Monday night after everything hit the fan?" I drew in a shaky breath. Shit. I had. Emmett now knew basically everything about the situation at hand, especially since I had really no one else to talk to now that I was avoiding Edward and walking on eggshells with Bella. That Saturday--the morning after she, er, threw herself at Edward-- as I drove her home, I had tried to meddle a little, but she just tensed up and started stuttering uncomfortably. I only had Em and Jasper now, further proving that I had to fix things, and fast.

"I guess if Emmett's mad at Bella, then naturally Rose would be, too," I mumbled to myself. Jasper laughed at my scowl, pushing my hair away from my face as he balanced his cigarette between his lips.

"She misses you, Al," he said softly, resting one arms across the back of my seat. "You should call her. She knows everything anyway, so you wouldn't have to lie." I recoiled at his words. "You know that I'm not insinuating that you lie often," he corrected himself hurriedly. "I'm just saying that she's an insider, too."

I knew that I needed to make an effort with my oldest friend. Ever since we'd made up, we talked on the phone every so often, but not enough to constitute as maintaining a real friendship. "I'm sorry my family is forcing our problems onto yours, Jazz. We don't mean to interfere." He smoothed my hair against my neck tenderly.

"Don't say that kind of shit. You know I'm here for you through whatever. I'll do whatever you need." His blue eyes swam with emotion as he gazed at me, his sincerity building tension in my tear ducts. Jesus, everyone was always fucking crying. I needed to lighten the mood, before I ruined another one of his shirts.

"Whatever I need?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

He nodded hesitantly at my words, his lip pulling up slightly. "Conditionally," he said. "Last time I made a blind promise, I got involved with all this Edward/Bella shit. As long as I don't have to scheme anymore, than I'll do whatever you want."

"Okay, then put that cigarette out. They make my hair smell." He cackled, reaching his arm over my head to flick it out the window.

"I thought you said the other night that you don't care about those kinds of things." The tone of his voice was mocking. Before I could defend myself, he was laughing, his hand on my knee. "Whatever you say," he smiled, planting a kiss against my temple.

*

First hour crawled by. Mrs. Goff was rambling on about the weather in Madrid—speaking in Spanish all the while, naturally—and Bella was nowhere to be found. The seat beside me was unbearably empty, and my palms were sweaty with anticipation. I snatched my phone from my purse, my fingers moving across the keyboard so quickly that they were almost a blur.

Where the fuck are you? I entered. Almost instantly, I got a reply.

In the lot, Bella answered. Giving myself a pep talk.

I laughed to myself. Relax, I wrote. He's not even here yet. He's doing the same thing that you are now, just from the safety of his own bedroom.

When will he be here? She asked.

Soon. Don't worry.

Minutes later, Bella stumbled over the threshold into the classroom and handed a pink slip of paper to Mrs. Goff. The teacher shot her a glance of warning, telling her in Spanish to take a seat and to pay attention.

"Hey," she whispered, sliding into her seat. Her face was sallow, her thick hair a bit more wild and knotted than usual. She looked like hell.

"Hi," I answered. "What happened to you?"

"Rough morning," she responded simply, tossing her hair over her shoulder so she didn't have to look at me anymore. Huh. Rude.

The class skipped by now that Bella was there, and the weight of the worry I would have continued to harbor had she not shown up was gone. But now there was a new weight. Bella had done her part, but would Edward? Edward had no idea Bella was here. He was still under the impression that she was the one playing hooky now, not him. What would he do when he saw her? He couldn't run away…actually, maybe he would. Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

"So," Bella began as we walked from the classroom and into the hallway. "Where is he?" She bit her lip.

I opened my mouth to answer, but suddenly, I was unable to speak. Almost as if on cue, like I'd called his name myself, my brother pushed his way through the double doors directly behind Bella. If she would have just turned her body slightly, she would have seen him. But there he was, just as promised, his head down and his hair disheveled. "Bella," I choked, "let's go. I, um, have to pee." Before she could protest, I was dragging her behind me and away from the building, making a beeline for the gymnasium.

He hadn't seen her. He couldn't, not yet. Not now.

"Jasper," I screeched into the phone as soon as he answered. Bella was still beneath my grasp, her face confused as I shut the gym doors behind us. The building was empty, the fluorescent lights beaming on the glossy wooden floor. The basketball hoops hung suspended from the ceiling, and I mentally pictured my headless body handing from the orange rim after Edward found out that I'd cheated him. "He's here," I spat into the receiver. "He's here, and he almost saw her."

"What's going on?" Bella asked with frustration, scowling when I hissed at her to be quiet.

"Find him. Please," I begged after Jasper tried to soothe me. "Explain to him that she's here. If he sees her, he'll bolt." I snapped the phone closed, meeting Bella's angry eyes.

"He. Doesn't. Know. I'm. Here," she growled in clipped sentences, her eyes wild and angry.

"I'm sorry," I said, releasing her arm. "I couldn't tell him. It's the only way he would come."

"I have to see him," she said simply, turning to walk out of the gym.

"No, Bella! Please!" I cried, running after her.

"I agreed to fall into your hands for your little project, Alice. But I can't do this right now. I can't wait for him until he wants to talk to me, worrying that he'll run away. I need him to know that I'm here, and I need to see him. I've waited for too long now."

I couldn't catch up with her as she ran. If Jasper wasn't able to talk to Edward before Bella did, then all hell was definitely going to break loose.

A/N: sorry, this didn't end on a good note. i'll update ASAP. sorry for any grammar/spelling errors, i wrote most of this at around 3AM :) review! love you.