Six years later…
I'm sixteen now. It's the start of summer and the Whitlocks will be here any moment. I hear the familiar sound of tire coming up the driveway and I look out my window. Sure enough, it's them. I run downstairs and out onto the porch. I haven't seen Jasper since the end of last summer.
He gets out of the car as soon as it's stopped. I run down the porch steps and he run up the path way. We hug each other and he lifts me off the ground. I laugh.
"Put me down Jazz," I say. When he does I have to take a step back and look up at him. "You've gotten taller."
"And you've gotten…" Jasper says. However, he doesn't finish his sentence.
"Jasper, my boy!" I hear behind me and I try not to wince. My dad comes out the front door and down the walk way. He puts out his hand and Jasper shakes it.
"How are you sir?" Jasper asks.
"Fine, fine," Dad says, "How are you? When are you going to be with my daughter?"
"Daddy, why don't you go help with their bags," I say, pushing him over to the Whitlocks' car.
"Sorry about him," I say. I try to stop myself from blushing.
"It's fine," Jasper says. I look up at him and he's grinning. It's not the grin that I'm used to though. There's something else there. His eyes are shining and he seems… different.
Six weeks later…
"I don't want you to leave!" I complain, flopping down on the ground next to Jasper. I lie on my stomach and pick at the grass.
"I'm not leaving," he says. I roll over onto my back and look up at him.
"But it's almost the end of summer," I say.
"I got a job in town," he says. "I'm gonna stay. My parents are fine with it, and I've graduated any way."
"Really?" I ask. I sit up and look at him, grinning like crazy.
I hear the babble of the creek in front of us. I look at it and smile. This is our spot. We discovered it in the woods surrounding my house the first summer Jasper spent here. It's been our special place ever since.
"Yeah," he says. "I want to stay, Alice… I want to stay for you."
"Me?" I ask. I look up at him and he's closer than I expected him to be.
Jasper leans in and his hand touches my cheek. Then he kisses me, gently at first, timidly. However, as I move my mouth with his, he gets more into it, and I do as well. Too soon, it ends. He pulls away and smiles down at me. We touch our foreheads together and take a moment to catch our breath.
"Yes, for you," Jasper says.
One week later…
"Mum," Jasper is saying as he is helping his parents put their luggage in their car. "I'll be fine. I'm staying in the guest house here, and I have a job."
"I know, it's just… I'll miss you," she says.
"I'll miss you too, Mum," he says and he pulls her into a hug. Then he walks over to me and stands behind me. He wraps his arms around me and kisses the top of my head.
"Jasper," I hiss. "They'll see!" We've been keeping what we have a secret.
"Let them see," he says, turning me around and kissing me on the lips.
"Oh, my goodness," I hear behind me and Jasper pulls away from me. I try not to wince as I turn around and look at my mom.
"Hey, Mom," I say.
"Hi," she says. Behind her, Jasper's parents and my dad are staring at us as well.
"Hey, we never thought that would actually happen, huh?" John says to my dad. The two of them laugh and our moms look at each other and roll their eyes.
I look up at Jasper and he smiles. Then he takes my hand and we walk to the back of the house. I ask, "Won't you need to say good bye to your parents?"
"I already said good bye," Jasper says as we approach the tire swing. "They're going to call later on tonight when they get home."
"Oh," I say. I climb onto the swing and find myself eye level with Jasper.
"Hey, look at that," Jasper says. "You can see the top of my head."
"Shut up, and give me a push," I say. He laughs and pulls the swing back wards and lets it swing forward. I spin around, back and forth and look up at the sky. The sun is setting and orange light is filtering through the leaves of the trees. It's perfect.
Nine months later…
School has started again. In fact, it's almost over; it's April now. I've told my friends Rosalie and Bella about my relationship with Jasper. Every one in town knows by now. It's a small town, after all. Every one knows every one.
The final bell rings and I walk out of school. I wave goodbye to Rosalie and Bella. Then I start walking to the far end of the parking lot, where I know Jasper will be waiting, leaning against his truck, to bring me home.
"Mary Alice!" I hear and I turn around. I try not to groan.
"Mike, I'd prefer to be called Alice," I say as he stops in front of me. He's wheezing and I'm surprised that he doesn't whip out his inhaler.
"Alice would you like to go to the prom with me?" he asks.
Mike is my age and should be a junior just like me. However, his nerdy qualities got him to be able to skip a year. Nobody really likes him and sometimes I feel bad for him. When Bella first moved here at the beginning of freshman year, he was chasing after her as well.
"No thank you, Mike," I say. I turn to walk away, but I feel a hand on my shoulder.
"Please?" Mike asks.
"I'm in a relationship," I say.
"Please?" he asks again.
"I'll think about it," I say stiffly. Then he smiles and I turn away before he realizes that I'm not even going to consider going to the prom with him. I keep walking until I spot Jasper, leaning against his truck, like always.
"Hey," Jasper says. He straightens up and pulls me into a hug.
"Hi," I say.
One week later…
"Alice, we need to talk," Jasper says. We're driving home. It's nearly midnight; we were at a party at Rosalie's house. It was just a small gathering of friends. It was in celebration of my seventeenth birthday; which will be tomorrow… which will be in ten minutes.
"Yes Jasper?" I say.
"Mike Newton has been coming around the diner and bragging that you're going to prom with him," Jasper says stiffly. I had thought that he had something on his mind, but I never thought it would be that.
"Well, I'm not," I say.
"That's not what he thinks," Jasper says.
"Jazz, he cornered me in the parking lot a week ago," I say. "I told him no, then I tried telling him that I'm in a relationship, but he wouldn't stop! So I just told him I would think about it and I walked away. I never said yes."
Jasper slams on the brakes and I look up at him. He's glaring ahead and I wonder if a deer ran across the road. But there aren't any deer. We're actually in my driveway; my house, looming big and dark in front of us. In the distance I see that Jasper left a light on in the guest house.
"What's wrong?" I ask. I put my hand on his but he pulls it away.
"Alice," he says, his teeth clenched, "Why would you even say that you would think about it?"
"I felt bad for him, and I wanted him to leave me alone! I just said what I knew would get him off my back," I say. Jasper opens the door of his truck and I open mine. We stand there on the walkway, nothing of us with our arms crossed across our chests, staring hard at each other.
"It just hurts, Alice," Jasper finally says.
"Get over it," I say, getting impatient, "It's not a big deal!"
"Maybe not to you," he says. "But it's important to me! I feel like you've betrayed me. I feel angry, jealous, upset; didn't you think that I might feel like this if I heard him going on and on about how you said you would go to prom with him?"
"No," I say. "I thought you would hear me out and realize that he's just making things up!"
"Well, I don't understand," he says. "I'm mad, I-I-I just don't know what to think. What if something like this happens again and it isn't a misunderstanding?"
It's like a slap to the face. All this time we've never had a fight. I never thought that our first fight, if it ever came, would be like this.
"You don't trust me?" I ask, backing away, shaking my head.
"I don't know, this is a part of you've I've never seen before" Jasper says.
"Well," I say stiffly. "Maybe, it's not me. Maybe, it's you. Maybe, I was the one who was wrong about you; instead of you being wrong about me!"
"No," he argues, "Maybe it's us."
"Well, if you think there's something wrong with us, maybe there shouldn't be an us," I say.
Then, I storm off into the house. I put my key in the lock, and unlock the door. Then, I go inside and slam it shut behind me. I lean against the door and slide down onto the floor. Tears run down my face and I wonder if I've woken up my parents. Then I remember that they're on a trip and won't be home for two more days.
I hear feet coming up the porch steps. Quickly I turn around and lock the door. Sure enough, the handle jiggles and I hear a groan on the other side of the door.
"Alice," Jasper says. "Let me in so we can talk about this."
I stand up and look at the door. Then, I square my shoulders, turn around and walk up stairs. If he knows what's good for him, he'll go to the guest house. I go in my room and put my pajamas on. Then I lie down on my bed and look at the clock on my night stand. It is 12:30 and officially my birthday. Next to the clock is a picture of Jasper and I; seeing it makes me burst out crying once again.
I wake up at eight o'clock. I must have cried myself to sleep, because I don't remember tossing and turning. All I remember is burying my face in my pillow and crying. I get up, out of bed and walk down stairs. I pour myself a cup of apple juice and look out the back window, at the guest house and wonder what Jasper is doing right now. Then I walk into the living room and see something odd.
The living room has windows that face the front yard and the porch. One window is next to the porch swing. I walk over to it and there he is, sleeping on the porch swing. My heart clenches. I'm still mad at him, but the fact that he stayed out there all night pleases me. I open the front door and walk out side.
Then I walk over to the porch swing and look down at Jasper. I kick the swing and little and it rocks back and forth. Jasper rolls over and falls off the swing. He probably had forgotten he was on it. The shock of landing on the hard porch shocks him and his eyes fly open. I stare down at him and raise an eye brow.
"Alice!" he exclaims. He stands up and brushes himself off. He's still wearing the clothes he was wearing last night.
"Jasper," I say stiffly.
"I'm so sorry," he says. I nod and walk away and into the house.
"Come in," I say. Not all is forgiven. We're going to have to talk about the fight. However, for now all I can do is hope that things will go back to the way they were.