Hey, hey, hey. It's me again with another update. Sorry to leave you guys with a cliff-hanger there but I hope you enjoy reading this chapter, there's a little more insight into Jasper and Bella here.

xXx

Chapter Six

Bella's mouth dropped open and her eye widened in shock.

"What?" she gasped out.

"My parents are dead" I repeated slowly. It still felt weird saying it out loud and it hurt just as badly.

"Oh my gosh Jasper, I'm so sorry" Bella said getting on her knees beside me.

"It's okay, I'm…" I hesitated. I wanted to tell her I was fine with it but that would be another lie and for some reason I just didn't want to lie to her.

"I know you're not fine Jasper, you don't need to lie for my benefit"

I smiled slightly.

"Are you okay?" she asked. She placed her hand on my cheek, her warmth seeping into my cheek. She was so close to me right now, so close that if I leaned in just a bit, I could kiss her. She had lovely lips, fuller on the top than bottom. They looked so soft, I bet they were. I could see her eyes fluttering shut and our lips meeting.

"Jasper?" Bella asked, snapping me out of my day dream.

"Yeah?" I replied slightly dazed.

"Are you okay?" she repeated again.

"Yeah, I was just thinking" about you and your luscious lips.

"Oh" she said and as though just realising that her hand was still on my cheek, she removed it quickly as if it had burnt her.

"Do you want to know more?" I asked her hesitantly.

"If you want to, I really don't mind either way" she replied after a moment.

It was odd, usually after people found out my parents were dead they'd look at me with pity in their eyes and I hated that but in Bella's eyes I could only see concern for me.

I ran my hand through my hair "Okay, well, it umm, happened 2 years ago about 3 months after we found out about Lil" I paused "They're buried back in Texas"

"Was it hard?" she asked, slowly holding my hand and squeezing it.

"At first it was really hard but I don't think it really gets any easier, I think you just learn to live with it"

"I get what you mean, kind of; it's just one of those things"

"Yeah" I looked around for a moment.

"How did Rosalie take it?" Bella asked hesitantly.

I thought hard for a moment. To be honest I wasn't really sure, I had been too wrapped up in my own grief and dealing with the baggage that had been loaded on me that I hadn't really thought about Lil and how she was coping with everything that had happened. I mean, despite everything that had happened, he was her father too.

"I'm not sure, hopefully better than me"

After they're death, I had completely flipped out, I just became angry at anyone and everything. I was volatile and horrible, I'd get into fights just for the sake of it, just so that I could justify what I was doing, so that I could feel something, anything other than the numbness inside, I couldn't mourn her death, I couldn't cry, I couldn't register it or anything else and so the pain of being hit, of bleeding...was nice, because it meant I was still alive, it meant that I could still feel, the pain it hurt so good but then it didn't anymore and I just felt tired and sick of it.

I was covered in bruises, I was in and out of hospital getting fixed up, that wasn't life and it wasn't what I wanted for myself.

But most of all it wasn't what my mum would want.

It was then that I changed and tried to get better. At first I just kept everything inside and became completely withdrawn from people, my thoughts were horrible mostly about killing myself and it was reflected in the drawing's that I did. They covered my room, they were on my walls, the ceiling, the floor but at least I was expressing my grief in a slightly healthier way. The pictures were dark and gruesome, terrifying to be honest. I still had them but I didn't look at them, it was hard remembering that time in my life and the kind of person I was. I knew I was seriously depressed and so I went to a therapist at the doctor's suggestion but talking about it didn't seem to work, mostly because I refused to talk, the first step of grief was denial after all and I guess that's where I was stuck.

Nothing seemed to be working.

Nothing.

My Nan is a devoted Christian and so she kept on insisting that I went to church. I didn't believe in God because if He was there, then why would such horrible things happen to good people, namely my mum. She's dead now and she didn't deserve to be, she was a good person, always helped others and like my Nan was a devoted Christian and yet she ended up with a bastard like my dad and dead because of him.

I went but I didn't believe but I could see why people went, it gave them hope and eventually like them it gave me some hope, some direction, just something other than the hole that I had dug myself. I got out of the bleak world that I was in and made my way to recovery. I was still recovering even now but I still couldn't help but wonder if I would ever get over what happened that night.

I shook my head trying to rid my mind of the memories, it was the past now and that's where I should leave it. I was moving past that or at least trying to.

"Do you want to finish eating or I dunno, go somewhere else?" I asked.

"Let's go somewhere else" Bella said. We began packing up the things and began making our way back to the car. As we walked, we talked, thankfully about things that didn't hold much importance.

"So where do you want to go?" I asked as I pulled out onto the road we'd come from.

"We could go back to my house or something, its empty" Bella whispered beside me.

"Sure"

I began the short drive back to Bella's, studying her from the corner of my eye. She was biting down on her lip and twirling a lock of hair around her finger as she looked out the window with a contemplative look.

"We're here" I said pulling up.

I got out the car and opened the door for her, I waited patiently as she unlocked the door and we walked in. She disappeared in the direction of the kitchen for a moment before reappearing.

"Are you thirsty?" she asked.

"I'm alright"

"Okay then, follow me" and instead of leading me to the living room like she did yesterday, she led me up the stairs.

"That's Charlie's room" she said pointing to the left. "And here's mine" she said opening the last door in the hallway.

It was a nice room, the walls were purple and she had a computer on a desk at the far wall. There were numerous pictures and other things stuck on the wall. Her bed was queen sized and took up the majority of the centre of the room.

"I like your room" I said. She smiled but continued standing nervously at the door, wringing her hands again.

"You can sit down if you want" she said to me. So I sat on the bed and she came and sat beside me. Once again we were in silence, I continued looking around her room, I could see stacks of books in one corner and stood up to go and see what she had.

There was a lot of books by Charlotte Bronte, Jane Austen and Emily Bronte as well as William Shakespeare and a couple of other authors. She had some young adult books, crime and romance, specifically mills and boons. I wasn't surprised considering how she had admitted to being a romantic earlier.

"You've got a lot of books" I said turning to face her.

"Yeah, but I really like to read so you can't blame me"

"I can kind of see why you like the library now"

"There's books everywhere, what more could I want?"

"Yeah"

We drifted off into awkward silence for few moments before Bella's house phone began ringing from downstairs.

"I'll go get that" Bella said as she left the room. As she walked, I could hear her soft footsteps along the landing and down the stairs before her voice drifted up, although I could not hear what she was saying.

I walked around Bella's room some more noticing the pictures of her and some lady. She looked a lot like her but older, tanner, with more laugh lines and streaks of blonde in her hair. I picked up the one on her bedside table to study it closer.

Bella looked about 7 or 8 and was stood in front of a load of trees, beside her stood the lady in the previous pictures. Both were smiling brightly into the camera.

At that point I noticed how different Bella looked and not just because of her age. In the picture, Bella looked happy and free unlike now, now she looked burdened and as though she'd aged far more.

"That's my mum" I turned around in surprise to see Bella standing there.

"I kinda guessed" I put the picture back down and sat on the bed.

"We were in South America, on holiday, I was 7 at the time"

"Oh, did you have fun?"

"Yeah I did, from what I can remember"

"Was it your dad who took the picture?" I asked.

"No" she paused "He wasn't with us"

"What too much crime in Forks?" I joked to lighten the mood a little.

"Umm, no" she laughed.

"Where's your mum?" I asked "I haven't seen her"

Bella looked at me strangely for a moment "She's in Jacksonville"

"On holiday?" I asked confused.

"No, she lives there"

"Alone? Wait no, with your brother right, why? Wouldn't it make more sense for them to be here with you guys?"

"Jasper, my parent's are divorced" Bella said as she sat down next to me.

My eyes widened in surprised as things began to click.

"Oh geez Bella, I didn't realise"

"It's okay, how would you know?" she shrugged casually. "It happened years ago when I was a kid, I don't even remember it"

"Oh, so you live here with your dad?" I asked slowly.

"Yeah, it's just the two of us"

"So you guys must be pretty close"

She sighed "Yeah I guess, I mean we talk and stuff but not much because we're both quiet people, but I know he cares. I wouldn't mind if we were closer, but we don't share a lot of the same interests. He likes sports and fishing, I like reading"

"Do you not try to watch sports?"

"I do but I can never seem to understand the rules"

"I could teach you one day, if you wanted"

"Really?" she beamed "That would mean a lot, Charlie tries but I just don't understand"

"Well, I'm sure I'll be able to teach you. Obviously you see Charlie because you live with him but do you see your mum much?"

"Umm, not really, she emails me and calls sometimes but that's pretty much it" As Bella said it, I couldn't detect any sadness in her voice and it made me wonder what kind of relationship they shared.

"You've lived in Forks your whole life right?"

"No, when my parents split up, my mum took me with her but then when I was eight I moved back here-"

"And then you met Lil and the Cullens?" I asked.

"Right, they moved here a bit after me though but when I was 15 I moved back with my mum and then came back here at the beginning of the year"

"Wow, that is a lot of moving around"

"Yeah, but despite everything I'm glad I ended up here in Forks, with Charlie" she paused and in the barest of whispers she added "and you"

I couldn't stop the grin that spread across my face.

"I'm glad too that despite everything you're here in Forks"

"It's really not that bad because there are some nice people here, not everyone is as hostile as some people" she said subtly hinting at Alice and some other people.

"I figured, you know at lunch the other day, Angela got into a mini argument with Lauren and Jessica about you"

"Yeah she told me about that" she blushed slightly and I wondered why.

"She's a good friend"

"I know, I'm lucky to have her as one"

"They mentioned something about a Ben?"

"Yeah, he's her boyfriend. They've been together for years"

"That's nice"

"I know" she turned excitedly to face me "They're so cute together and it's amazing to see the love between them, it's like wow, because they're both quiet so they're not making out in the hallways and stuff like that but when you see them doing really simple things for each other, you can really see the love and no matter what anyone says about them, they just don't care"

"What do you mean?"

"Angela's taller than Ben and that kind of brakes that stereotypical image that the guy should be taller but they don't care. It's just nice to see love that's honest and pure and true, love that has trust and faith in it, love that as a result is unbreakable" she said sadly, her eyes wistful.

"Is that how you define love?" I asked.

She bit her lip for a moment, drawing my attention to them once again "Kind of, but I think it's deeper than that, it's kind of when you can't live without the other person, you can't think of anything else but them, you dream about them, their happiness is your happiness and all those other clichés" she paused "How would you define love?"

I thought for a moment, how would I define love? "I'm not sure" I eventually said "I'll get back to you on that"

"Promise?"

"Promise, do you want me to pinky swear as well?" I teased.

She hit me jokingly on the shoulder in response.

"Jasper, sometime next week, we should meet up for the project"

"Yeah, I agree. How about next Wednesday?"

"Why Wednesday?"

"I don't know, it just seemed like a good day"

"O-kay" she said slowly "Wednesday it is then"

"What do you want to start with?"

"How about researching how Hitler actually came to power before anything else?"

"Yeah that's a good place. Are we typing or writing?"

"Definitely typing, my writing looks like a 6 year olds" she said grinning.

"I'm sure it doesn't Bella"

"Your right, a 6 year olds writing is miles better than my scrawl" she lay back on her bed and I lay down next to her.

We were silent, there was nothing but the sound of the occasional car passing by, the wind as it howled and the tree as it tapped outside her bedroom window.

The silence was comfortable.

"There's a tree outside my house"

"Yeah I saw that" I turned to face her "Have you ever snuck out before?"

"Me? No, I've never really had to before, my dad's hardly ever home and plus knowing me as I climbed out the tree I'd probably break my leg in the process"

"So you're a klutz"

"More than a klutz, it's like, if I can get hurt or get someone hurt, I will. I'm actually known on a first name basis at the hospital"

"Lucky" I commented dryly.

"Aren't I?" Bella laughed.

"How many bones have you broken then?"

"Tons"

"Like what?"

"My ankle, my wrist, my femur, my arm, several fingers as well as a couple of other bones…."

"That's a lot"

"Yeah, what have you broken?"

"Nothing reallly, I sprained my wrist once when I was kid, I fell out of a tree and I dislocated my shoulder once"

"Anything else?"

"Err, no I think that's pretty much it"

"Your list is really tame compared to mine"

"Bella any other normal person's list will be tame compared to your list"

"I guess, my dad calls me a walking time bomb"

"So he should if you get hurt as much as you say you do"

Bella opened her mouth to say something before stopping halfway and starting again "Are you doing anything for the fete?"

"Uhh, no, I don't think so. Lil mentioned something about me helping out at the dunk tank or something but I'm not sure"

"You know what you could do and this is just an idea" Bella said hesitantly "You said you draw right, well I was thinking that you could do caricatures of people"

"Really?"

"Yeah, I reckon you could raise loads of money that way because I'm sure lots of people will want to get they're picture done. There isn't a lot to set up or anything, all you really need is a table or something" she paused "You'll also be really original because there hasn't been one in the fete before"

I contemplated it for a moment before smiling at Bella "That's a good idea and it doesn't require me getting soaked"

"What a shame for the female population of Forks then" Bella said laughingly, before clamping a hand over her mouth and blushing at what she had just said. "I…I didn't mean that you, no I mean that you-" she sat up, staring straight ahead with an embarrassed expression on her face.

I placed a hand on her shoulder as I sat up.

"It's okay Bella, I get what you mean. There's no need to feel embarrassed but that's not to say that blush isn't cute" I teased.

Her face whipped round to face me in surprise and her blush deepened but she simply smiled and ducked her head slightly.

"You have to sign up before the end of the week" she said quietly.

"Yeah, Lil told me"

Bella cocked her head as she looked at me.

"Why do you call her that?"

"Lil? I dunno, it's kind of because I've abbreviated her middle name Lillian which was what I knew her by when we first met and also because she's my 'lil sister'"

"Oh, it's really sweet" Bella said after a moment.

"What do you mean?"

"Like how, you've got a nickname for her and everything, you guys must be pretty close right?"

"Yeah, we are in a way" I said thinking back to this morning. "I'm glad that she's my sister though, I always wanted one and then I just got one"

"Well, I guess it worked out in a way"

"I guess it did, Lil's mum's nice, I mean she didn't have to take me in but she did and she doesn't treat me any differently"

"How come you only moved in with her now?" she paused "Again, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to"

"I told you Bella, you can ask me anything"

"Right"

"After my parent's….died, Lil's mum said that I could move in with her but I refused, I guess I wasn't ready to leave Texas yet and so I moved in with my Nan but then she's old, she's got arthritis and is diabetic and so she got put in a nursing home because that's where she can get the help she needs and everything, then I came to Forks and it was for the best I guess there wasn't really much left in Texas for me and I guess I was just clinging on for no reason"

"That must have been awful Jasper"

"Not as awful as you'd think, her health's not that bad according to the doctor and she's in pretty good condition. She promised to write to me"

"That's really nice"

"Yeah, I love my nan" I said smiling a goofy smile "Are you doing anything for the fete?"

"Umm, no, I can't even imagine what I'd do, as it is, I don't think I'm even going"

"Come on Bella, if you don't want to do anything, you can at least sit with me. You can be like my assistant or something sharpening my pencils and getting out fresh paper for me to draw on. Plus, I don't think you can get hurt doing that"

"Ever heard of poking someone's eye out with a pencil or of paper cuts? Like I said, if I can get hurt, I will but I might come and sit with you, maybe"

"Why maybe?"

"Jasper do you realise that this is a very public fete, everyone will see us"

"So, am I not allowed to be friends with who I want?"

"Yeah but-"

"But what Bella?"

"I just don't want them to be as horrible to me as they are to you, they tend to turn on people who are associated with me"

"I'm not sure if you realise this Bella but I really don't care what these people think especially if they can think so low of and be horrible to someone as nice as you"

"I'm really not that nice"

"Yes you are Bella and I can tell that after knowing you for what, let's see, I started on Wednesday, it's Saturday now, so four days Bella"

She lowered her head and stared hard at the duvet for a moment before I felt her warm and small hand curling around mine.

"I'm really glad I met you Jasper" she smiled at me and in that moment, she looked just like she did back in that picture.

Happy and free.

"I'm glad I met you too"

xXx

Aww, who's gushing right now? I am, I felt that this was a good place to end the chapter, coming up more Drama! In this chapter, I've left you guys some clues as to what happened, as well as there being some other clues in previous chapters.

Happy New Year!