So in case anyone was wondering the main characters are all seniors, the story is set in February after winter break, sorry if I get anything wrong as I live in the UK and I'm getting my information off of the internet, specifically Wikipedia also thank you to everyone who has reviewed or added this story to favourites, it means a lot!

xXx

Chapter Four

We ran to the entrance of the diner only getting slightly wet. I opened the door for Bella and she smiled at me before walking in. After entering, I turned to face her, noticing how strands of her damp hair had stuck to the sides of her face. She looked nice with wet hair; I stepped closer to her and noticed how the rain had enhanced her natural scent.

The diner was alive with activity surprisingly un-Forks like. On the wall were various paintings and pictures of landscapes and food. We made our way to the back of the diner where it was quieter and a whole lot more private. The booth was tucked into the corner and couldn't be seen clearly by the rest of the diner.

The hum of chatter in the background provided a great background noise to our...outing? Date? Whatever this was.

We sat down and I handed Bella one of the dessert menu's whilst perusing the other. Bella was right about the desserts list, it was pretty extensive. I could count at least 10 different flavours of ice cream sundaes alone as well as numerous cakes, cookies and so on.

I looked up at Bella and saw she was watching me, after catching her she blushed but she didn't look away from me.

"Did you pick something?" I asked. She nodded her head.

"Have you picked something?" she asked.

"I was hoping that you'd pick for me considering that you're an expert"

"Well…" she hesitated "There's the ice cream sundae but I can never finish one on my own-"

"Great, we'll share then. What flavour?" I asked as I noticed one of the waitresses walking towards us.

"Umm, chocolate chip?" she asked nervously.

"Ok"

"Hello and welcome to the Forks Diner. I'm Kathy and you are?" she asked biting her lip.

"Jasper" I said politely "and-"

"Can I take your order Jasper?" she asked flirty. "I haven't seen you around before. Have you just moved here?"

"Uhh, yeah"

"Then I would recommend, the ice cream sundae or maybe the chocolate cake" she said leaning over and pressing her breasts into my arm as she did so. I couldn't help but feel awkward and I was sure my face showed it.

She glanced at me smiling and licking her overly red lips. She looked young, only a little bit older than us. Her hair was a reddish blonde colour that was cut in a bob. It suited her but I preferred girls with long hair.

"So are you ready to order?" she asked again standing up really slowly

"Yeah" I replied. "Bella, ready to order?" I asked turning to face her.

The waitress turned surprised to face Bella as though she hadn't even noticed her sitting there and Bella looked down uncomfortably.

"What do you want to order then?" Kathy asked her snidely, frowning.

"Chocolate chip cookie ice cream sundae, large" she said quietly.

"Anything else" Kathy turned facing me again, the frown on her face being replaced with a flirtatious smile.

"No, Bella?" I asked but she simply shook her head in response.

"Ok, well, I'll bring you're things out in a few moments" Kathy turned and left.

I turned to face Bella and saw she was smiling at me with a teasing look but underneath that I could see the hurt she was trying to disguise.

"What?" I asked bemused.

"Nothing" she said, looking away from me.

"What?"

"Nothing"

"Bella, tell me" I said seriously.

"Well, I was just thinking that she was being really obvious when she was flirting with you"

"Bella-"

"No it's true; it was kind of funny seeing you though, you looked constipated or something" she laughed.

"Ok, ok, so twenty questions?" I asked.

"Yeah, it was your turn"

"Okay. Umm, what is your favourite word?"

"Probably, Limerance"

"What does it mean?"

"It's like a scientific study into love and I'm a romantic so you can guess why. What's your favourite word?" she asked.

"Floccinaucinihilipilification" I said. It wasn't really my favourite word, it was just the strangest sounding one I knew.

"That's not a real word"

"Yes it is"

"What does it mean then?" she challenged.

"It's the estimation of something as valueless"

"Oh, okay, your turn again"

"What do you like doing in your spare time?"

"I like reading, watching movies, cooking"

"Cooking what?"

"Well, not exactly cooking, more like baking"

"Cool"

"What kind of music do you like?" she asked.

"A bit of everything really. I've got quite an eccentric taste"

"Really, that's what I've always been told as well"

"That's just another thing we have in common then"

Kathy arrived soon after with our ice cream and after lingering for a bit, she left in a huff. Bella giggled at that and I smiled, it was really, really nice spending time with her, like this and I couldn't wait to do it some more.

"So Bella" I said after we started eating the ice cream sundae. It was really large, so I wasn't surprised that Bella couldn't eat it by herself "Apart from this date, what is the worst one you've ever been on?"

"Date? I thought we went over this Jasper, you ambushed me" she said grinning.

"Okay Bella, apart from this ambush what's the worst date you've ever been on"

She looked thoughtful for a few moments "I think the worst one would probably have to be the one where the boy pulled my hair, threw sand at me, punched me in the face and then pushed me off the slide"

I looked at her baffled and wondering what kind of guys she went out with, then again I didn't really know what kind of guys Bella liked.

She must have caught my look because she elaborated "I was five you see and he was six, we were in the same class. His mum was some kind of important make up or fashion lady or something and my mum wanted in with her, so she used the excuse of a play date. We went round his house and children were left to play outside. I went in the sand pit, he threw a fit and then threw sand at me and some went in my eye. He pulled my hair when I went on the swings, punched me in the face when I picked up his ball and pushed me off his slide and it was a pretty big slide. I caught my arm on something and had to go to the hospital" she stuck out her arm and pulled up her sleeve showing me a silvery line on her arm, an indication that it happened a really long time ago.

"So it was a pretty bad date in my opinion and it was all in vain because my mum didn't even get an in with that lady because her violent kid turned it around to make it look like Iwas the bad kid and had gotten hurt because I was trying to force him off" she sighed thoughtfully.

"Wow, that is a bad date" I said agreeing with her. I couldn't help feel though that she was avoiding the question though by using a childhood example, funny as it was.

"My turn, your worst date?"

I rubbed my neck in embarrassment "I…uh don't have one"

She looked at me and the raised her eyebrows up "That's a lie Jasper, everyone has a worst date"

"Well I don't"

"You're basically saying that every single date you went on was absolutely perfect." When I didn't reply she went on "Okay. What was your least perfect date then? I'll give you an example, was it raining so you had to come in or did they not arrange the food as perfectly as they should have" she teased.

"Hey, what happened to the rule of not turning questions around"

"Come on Jasper, don't be a spoil sport"

I sighed heavily.

"Bella, the truth is, I don't date much" or at all

Bella's eyes widened slightly before she bit her lip in thought. "Well then, out of the dates you went on, which was the worst?"

"They weren't even really dates, the girls were just like friends and we got a drink or went to the movies or something. We didn't even hold hands or kiss or anything and you know sometimes we all went in one big group, so yeah"

"Okay then, can I ask you a different question?"

"No, it's my turn"

"Fine"

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

"I'm not too sure but something to do with English because I want to do it in college and everything. I might become an author but who knows" she grinned "My books might completely suck"

"I'd buy them"

"Sure you would"

"No, really I would even if they sucked, then I could get them signed by you and sell them on Ebay or something"

"Nice to see you have a plan Jasper"

We ate in silence for a few moments, fighting over the chocolate chip cookies in the ice cream. We fought with our spoons and guarded the bits that we wanted. It was a lot of fun.

I heard the chimes of the diner door go and looked up on instinct only to see Lil and her friends walk in. The rain must have started up again because they were completely drenched.

I looked over at Bella and judging by her expression she had seen them too. She looked utterly terrified. Her chest was heaving quickly as she struggled to take in air and I was afraid that she was going to have a panic attack or something. I kicked her leg lightly underneath the table to get her attention.

"Ok Bella, this is what we're going to do. Since we're sat here, we're kind of hidden away. I'll go and pay and everything and distract them whilst you run out the back doors" I said nodding in the direction of the opened doors "And you remember where we're parked, right?" I asked. I continued after she shook her head in affirmative "We'll meet there okay" I handed her my keys

The ice cream was pretty much all gone, so I stood up and began walking towards the front of the diner where Lil and her friends were standing. Alice noticed me first and began waving exuberantly and calling out my name therefore alerting the others to my presence.

"Hey" I said reaching them.

"Jasper" Alice squealed running and hugging me.

"What are you doing here Jasper?" Lil asked

"Just, you know, hanging out"

"Well, have you eaten yet because then you could join us?" Lil suggested. She smiled at me hopefully and I was almostgoing to say yes.

"I can't" I said sadly. "I've got some stuff to do"

"Can't you do it later?" Alice begged holding my arm "Please" I shook my head.

"I'll see you guys later though"

"Ok, bye" Lil said, this was soon followed with the rest of them saying it and I waved as I walked out the doors.

I made it to the car but Bella was nowhere to be seen. I waited a few minutes before walking round the back to where she was supposed to be coming from. The route was empty, I turned to walk back to the car when I noticed a door and heard voices coming from inside, I pulled it open.

"….you're so pathetic do you know that? I find you unbelievable but then I've got to admire you're guts, really. I could never be like you then again who could. You're in a league of your own. Now, that boy he's hot so I want you to leave him. I don't understand why someone like him would pick someone like you over someone like me it's crazy and if you don't I will- Jasper!" Kathy shouted when she spotted me.

I looked behind her and saw Bella. She looked comatose as though she weren't really there, simply staring blankly ahead as Kathy rained abuse on her, or at least that's what I assumed she had been doing in the time I had been waiting for her.

Once again I didn't understand how Bella could quietly take it, not retaliating or anything.

Simply accepting it as though she deserved it.

And that scared me.

I stepped closer to Bella but Kathy blocked her way smiling at me so I pushed past her, grabbed Bella's arm and pulled her out behind me. Bella was silent as I pulled her to the car and opened the door. She got in without a word, I turned to walk round to my side of the car and saw Lil and Emmet standing at the opening of the Diner watching me. I kept on walking though and they didn't try to stop me.

I started the car and took off driving, I wasn't sure where I was going but I was sure that I didn't want to leave Bella yet. I glanced over at her and saw that she was simply watching me, I tried to offer her a smile but she didn't respond simply looked out the window. The sound of the rain pattering down on the car provided the perfect background noise to this solemn day.

I pulled over to the side of the road and parked. The clouds of rain had darkened the sky considerably, so much that despite being only 5 it looked a lot later.

"Are you okay?" I asked her. She turned to face me and though she didn't respond again, I could see her eyes soften slightly.

"You know, ants are only alive for 60 days" I said conversationally. I could see the confusion in her eyes over the random change of subject.

"It's true, they're quite fascinating really. So are penguins, when they mate, they mate for life and even if they get separated for years at a time they almost always find their way back to each other"

"I already knew that" she croaked "From watching Definitely, Maybe"

"Same" I grinned. She smiled slightly at me.

We sat in silence for a few moments before I began fumbling with the radio and the sounds of acoustic guitars strumming away streamed through. We started talking then, about everything and anything that wasn't too deep or personal. Arguing about things like music to the shape of clouds passing by in the sky and before I knew it the sky had darkened even more and it was Twilight.

Bella looked happier but not completely and I didn't blame her, it must take a toll on your emotional health to have such anger constantly being spewed on you by people, in school and out of school.

"Jasper" she whispered. I turned to face her "Thanks for taking me out, I had a lovely time"

"I did too"

"Can you take me home?" she asked gently.

"Ok" I started the car and began following her instructions despite knowing where it was she lived. Though I was disheartened that she wanted to go home, she must have been tired; it had been a long day after all.

I parked and got out to open the car door for her before walking her to her front door. Her driveway was empty before I suddenly remembered that her car was still at the grocery store.

"Bella, what are you going to do about your car?" I asked.

"Umm, I was going to call Jake later and he'll probably fix it up"

"Who's Jake?" I asked feeling oddly jealous? Territorial? Protective?

"An old family friend, he's really into cars and things like that"

"Oh. Aren't you worried what 'll happen to your car overnight though?"

"No, I mean, really anything that was valuable in there has been taken out and plus who would really steal a car like mine. It's ancient" she laughed.

"Yeah, I guess"

She sat on the porch swing and after a few moments I joined her there. I wasn't ready to let her go just yet, but I couldn't think of a way to prolong the time anymore especially since it seemed like she couldn't wait to get rid of me.

"So umm, you're dad's a cop?" I asked.

"Yeah, he's the Chief of Police"

"Must be nice"

Her lips twitched in a smile "Not exactly, he's a lot more protective I guess because he's seen it all and yeah, a lot of people at school were a lot more hesitant when it came to me hanging out with them, well at least they were when they liked me" she said dryly.

"Oh"

"Yeah"

We trailed off into an awkward silence and I realised that it was futile of me to try and hold onto the obviously terrible time we were both having in a last ditch attempt to try and regain the feelings from the beginning of the evening.

"I guess you should go in now or something" I said facing away from her. I stood up and gave her a hand to get up, and then I walked her the short distance to her front door.

I waited as she fumbled around for her keys before finding them and unlocking the door. She hesitated before opening it and then turned around to face me, biting her lip and averting her eyes.

"I'll be see-"

"Do you want to come in?" she blurted out.

I stared at her in surprise for a bit before I realised that with each moment that I was silent, Bella grew increasingly nervous.

I opened my mouth to accept but she beat me to it.

"You, you know, if you don't want to, you don't have to…" she stuttered.

"No" I shouted. She jumped in surprise. "No, I mean I do want to come in" I repeated softer.

"Oh, ok, come in" she said opening the door wider and leading me in.

The inside of the house from what I could see was pretty cosy looking; it was just one of those places that had a homely feel to it.

"Well this is downstairs, that's the living room" she said gesturing with her left hand "Kitchen, upstairs and that concludes the tour" she turned to face me "Do you want a drink?"

I shook my head no.

"Okay, well umm, let's sit down then" she said walking in the direction of the living room. I took a seat on the end of the couch and watched as she quickly tidied the few books and newspapers on the table.

She sat down on the end of the couch that I was on, the tension between the two of us was escalating to insurmountable levels.

"You have a nice house"

"Thanks"

I glanced around the living room noticing the few scatterings of pictures on the wall.

"What do you think of the school then?" Bella asked.

"It's alright" I sighed "Just, it's been 3 days"

"Yeah I guess, you know if you're lucky the attention will have died down by next week"

"Maybe, I'm not too fussed"

"That's good, I remember when I first moved back, it was horrible, everyone kept staring at me, for having the 'guts' as they said to move back or I don't know because they wanted to make me feel like a freak show"

"Move back?"

"Yeah"

"But I thought you lived in Forks for years"

"I did, I mean I have but it's just really complicated, I'll tell you another day"

"Promise"

"Of course Jasper"

"Can I ask you something?" I said.

"You just did but go ahead" she smirked reiterating my earlier words.

"Why are you always in the library?"

She paused for a moment "It's quiet in there, peaceful. That's how I like things"

"I get what you mean, people in school don't really go in the library do they?"

"I'm pretty sure some of them don't even know there is a library" she leaned back on the chair and just looked at me for a moment.

"About the project" she started slowly "I was thinking that maybe we could meet at the library after school because you're probably busy on the weekends and stuff" I frowned wondering why that really mattered, school was school and it was by far more important than having a social life.

"Bella, I just moved to a town where I could drive from one end to the other in like 30 minutes or something, I doubt that I'm going to be that busy"

"Well, some people have parties on the weekend and you'll probably go and everything" At that moment everything clicked in my head. Like when I first met Bella and she was going on about how I had a chance to fit in.

"Let's just say I did go these parties" Though I doubted that I would "They would probably start in the evening and we could hang out- I mean work on the project before then"

"I guess but-"

"But what?"

"Nothing"

I couldn't help be frustrated, it was like the more I tried to get us to hang out and everything, the more Bella tried to avoid us doing so, it made no sense whatsoever. She's worried about what people would think of me and everything but I didn't care so why should she?

"Jasper-" My phone began ringing after that, I wanted to ignore it but Bella told me that I should. I looked at the phone and saw it was Lil. It was strange because we didn't talk on the phone all that much or ever.

"Hello"

"Hey Jasper, what's up?" Lil said.

"You called me?" I asked confused.

"Yeah, I know umm, when are you coming home?" she asked hesitantly.

"I'm not too sure" I said glancing at Bella quickly.

"Oh, well, okay but umm, yeah we need to talk when you do, it's really important" I groaned silently, I really hoped that she hadn't seen Bella but I guess I was wrong.

"Sure, I'll see you later then"

"Ok, bye"

"Bye"

We hung up and I looked at Bella again. I noticed I did that a lot. She was beautiful so I couldn't be blamed. The fading light shone through the window, illuminating her hair and I noticed how her hair had red hues in them as well. She kind of looked like an angel right then, a broken angel and for some reason I wanted to be the one to put her back together, to fix her.

The sudden rush of heat that went through me at the moment took me by surprise and I realised that I truly cared for Bella and I wanted to guide her back to happiness again and as corny as it was I wanted to be her beacon of hope.

"What were you saying?" I asked her. She shook her head silently. "Bella?"

"It's, it's nothing Jasper, I've already forgotten as it is" she smiled weakly at me.

"Oh ok"

We sat in silence for a moment.

"It's getting late, isn't it?" I caught on immediately.

"Yeah, I guess I should be going" I stood up as she did and walked to the door. I turned round to face her and smiled.

"Did you have a good time?"

A soft smile touched her lips "I did, surprisingly enough"

"We should do it again sometime"

"Maybe" she whispered. "I'll see you later then"

"Yeah but actually can you give me your number first?" she looked at me surprised as I said this.

"Why?" she asked confused.

"Well, we're going to be working on a ten week project together and we'll need to meet up and stuff, so if we have each other's numbers then we can plan when to meet"

"Oh yeah, good point"

I handed her my phone as she gave me hers and I saved my mobile number in it, I was going to put my house number as well but decided against it, in case one day she called and someone other than me answered.

"Here" she said handing me back my phone a few moments later.

"Thanks" I said smiling.

"So bye then"

"Bye Bella"

"Jasper, wait!" Bella called out.

I turned to face her as she ran down her porch steps.

"Jasper, tomorrow I'm going to see Jacob about my truck, it's in La Push and there's this beach and it's probably not the best time of year to be going to a beach but it's really pretty and so do you want to come with me?" she blurted out.

I nodded my head absolutely stunned.

"Ok, so umm, pick me up tomorrow then about 12 or something?"

"Yeah, sure"

I turned to walk to my car and waved as I reversed out her driveway. I got home a few minutes later, feeling unbelievably tensed. Was it just Lil at home? Or did she have her army of friends and her boyfriend there as well?

I hoped it was just her and then it'd be easier to talk especially if it's about Bella because I doubted that Alice would be too happy about us doing so.

I opened the door and walked in, Lil wasn't in the living room or anywhere on the ground floor, so taking the stairs two at a time I went to her room and found she wasn't in there either. I frowned thinking that maybe she'd gone out but when I opened the door to my room, I found her sitting on my bed flicking through my sketch pad.

"Hey" I said. She looked up at me and smiled.

"Hi, so I guess we better start, huh?" she rubbed her hands on her thigh nervously.

"Yeah I guess" I took a seat next to her on the bed.

"So umm, you and Bella, when did that start?"

"Nothing's going on Lil"

"That's not what I asked Jasper" Lil said raising her voice slightly.

"We're friends, we met on my first day"

"Really? And you haven't been put off from being her friend?" she asked slightly confused.

"No" At this Lil turned to face me and smiled. "Why?"

"Well, it's pretty obvious that Bella isn't the most liked person in the school, you've seen how people treat her"

"I know but, I don't care"

"I've always liked that about you, you know"

"What?"

"How you just, how the opinions of other people don't seem to affect you"

"The people's who's opinion's that affect me are the people that I care about"

"Do you care about Bella?" Lil was looking at me wide eyed and almost scared? I stiffened slightly almost defensively.

"Yeah, I guess I do"

"Well, I'm happy that you've found a friend Jasper, just be careful okay? I don't want to see you getting hurt"

"Why would I get hurt? I asked puzzled.

Lil cocked her to the side for a moment regarding me with a strange look before she began making her way to my bedroom door.

"Why would I get hurt?" I repeated.

"Who's to say you will, everyone's different" she said and then she was gone and the room was silent. Lil's cryptic words ran through my mind and I wondered who had gotten hurt and if she was talking about Bella or herself or…..

Alice?

End chapter, do you like?