Chapter 9: Calm Me Down

-x-x-x-

"When my world gets loud, could you make it quiet down?

When my head, it pounds, could you turn down all the sound?

If I lay in pain, by my side would you stay?

If I need you now, would you kindly calm me down?"

Meghan Trainor – Kindly Calm Me Down

-x-x-x-

When morning came, Alexis did everything that she usually would; she showered, got dressed, did her hair and whatever else she found deemable for the morning. But that day, every little thing felt wrong. It felt as though she shouldn't have been doing any of it, but when she stopped to think about it; what else could she do? There was no point in wallowing in self pity, no point in feeling sorry for herself - that would accomplish absolutely nothing.

She figured that of all the days, that was the day she should dedicate to learning a range of new things. Filling up her head with completely new knowledge and skills was bound to push out any negative thoughts that may attempt to fight their way in. Lexi would be different today, she would do the unexpected today.

So, the first new thing she tried was making blueberry pancakes.

"I don't think you've ever made breakfast before, Lex." Her father commented, walking into the kitchen with a yawn. "When did you decide to pick that up?"

"What else am I meant to do?" She didn't look up from the plate of freshly made food, knowing that her dad would understand what she really meant. Her mother wasn't going to be down to make breakfast today, so she had to do something.

Oliver chose not to say much more, picking up one of the pancakes and complementing his daughter as he took a bite. "You ready to go see Adam soon?"

"Yeah, I was just waiting for you to come down."

"Okay, I'll just go grab a jacket and we'll head on out." He nodded to himself, walking off in the direction he'd come. "It's icy out there today, so we'll only have a short time seeing him if you want to make it to school on time."

Lexi felt a shiver run down her spine, though she wasn't sure why. It felt like a bad omen, but there was no way that something horrible would come from her simply visiting her older brother in the hospital. She chose to put it down to nerves and swiftly followed after her father to the car.

-x-x-x-

The steady beeps on the machine barely registered with Lexi as she stared at the unmoving body of her older brother.

She watched as his chest marginally rose every so often as he breathed. There was something almost therapeutic about it, calming and reassuring, but she couldn't allow herself to feel any moment of hope for the future in case it all came crashing down around her.

"I'm going to go check in with Dr Cullen." Her father told her, patting her shoulder as he left the room.

Lex knew that she only had a few minutes with him before she'd have to leave and go to school; the ice made it far too dangerous to drive normally this early in the morning. Therefore, she had to try and make the most of what little time she had.

But how was she meant to do that?

Slowly walking over to his side, she slipped her hand into his, closing her eyes in the hopes that she would somehow see what she'd seen in her dreams the previous night. However, there was nothing. Nothing but the darkness behind her closed eyelids.

"Just come back to us…" She begged, eyes fluttering open to see Adam staring back at her with a smile. But after just one blink, it was as though it never happened. "Adam?"

"Lex?" Her father asked as he walked back into the room. "You ready to go?"

She felt as though it was too short a time, her heart and mind still hadn't found an equilibrium where they could agree on how to feel or what to think. Had he really opened his eyes? Was it just her mind playing tricks on her again?

"Yeah… I guess so."

As she followed her father out the door, she turned back one last time to see if Adam had moved at all, but he was laid in exactly the same position as when she'd first walked in.

Maybe it was just wishful thinking.

-x-x-x-

"Who put the chains on your tires?" Alexis asked as she joined Bella's side in the school parking lot, looking back and forth between the two wheels that she could see.

"Charlie."

Eyes darting to her best friend's face, she noted that Bella seemed quite emotional at the mention of her father; like she was uncomfortable. "It's okay for a parent to look after you for a change, Bells…"

The brunette scuffed her shoe on the floor a couple of times as she kept her gaze low. "Nobody has ever done something like that for me before, Lex."

"He just wants to make sure you're safe, he's a good guy."

As Bella silently nodded, Lexi figured it was best to leave the subject alone. She had watched for a few years as her best friend looked after Renee back in Phoenix, so she knew that it was a big deal for her. She was used to doing the cooking, the cleaning, basically everything. At all times of the day, Bella would call her mother to make sure that she was okay. In their relationship, it was almost as though Bella was the parent.

Lex had often viewed the two women as siblings rather than a mother and daughter. Renee had never acted like a mother, often wanting to have fun and travel, to talk about boys and fashion tips rather than ensure that Bella was safe and had everything she needed.

Charlie was going to be good for her, if she would just allow him to be.

She couldn't help but notice the brunette flinch slightly from the corner of her eye, confused as to what was up with her now. "Are you okay?"

The girl sighed, looking anywhere but at her best friend. "I slipped on some ice coming out of my house."

Letting out a snort, Lex quickly covered her mouth and tried to disguise it with a cough. "Oh God, that must have hurt." Realising that her friend's glare meant she already failed at hiding her laughter, she gave a small chuckle. "I mean, of course you slipped on ice. Why did I not just guess the second I saw the ground? Why would you suddenly be capable of walking like a normal person on a slippery surface when you walk like Bambi on a normal dry one?"

"Shut up." She giggled with a slight shove to the redhead's shoulder. "I don't walk like Bambi… Ice just doesn't help the uncoordinated."

Alexis felt herself smile widely for the first time in days, knowing that she wasn't the first person Bella would have said that to today.

But then she looked around the parking lot.

She noticed how everyone was suddenly turned towards her, whispering amongst themselves as they attempted to hide their stares. This time, she was certain it wasn't due to them being new students, those stolen glances had stopped three days ago. These were different, their eyes swirling with pity.

"They know…" Lexi whispered, the pain in her stomach from the day before returning at full force. "Of course they know, it's such a tiny town, everybody knows everything that happens here."

"I can take you home if you want, Lex." Bella offered, hand already on the door handle of the truck. "You really don't need to be here."

The redhead gulped, taking a deep breath to calm herself. "I do… I'll be fine. I've been to see Adam and Dr Cullen assured me that he would be okay…" She knew that she was lying about that first part; she wasn't fine and there was a very large chance that there was no way that she'd be okay today.

"Well what did you think, though? Did he seem okay?"

"Honestly he looked a mess, but there was something about him that made me think that everything might turn out alright…"

Before Bella could respond, Lexi felt two arms wrap around her and pull her into someone's chest. "Lex, I'm so sorry."

"Tyler…" Alexis gave him a slight pat on the back before pulling away. "Please do me a favour and just act like nothing has happened? I need to take my mind off of everything, not have to talk about it constantly."

"Sure, sure." The boy replied, releasing her, though clearly uncomfortable with the idea. "Nobody expects you to be alright, you know?"

Lex let out a huge sigh, rubbing at her temple as a headache already threatened to overcome her. "I know, I know. It's just what I need, okay?"

"Okay." Raising his arms in surrender, the sad pitiful look in his eyes remained. "Okay, I'll go let everyone else know…"

As Tyler swiftly shifted over to the small group of their friends, Bella awkwardly shuffled next to Lex. "He was just trying to be nice, Lex."

The redhead held her chest, trying to steady her breathing as she became restless. She needed to get through the morning, she needed to calm down and trust her gut that things would be okay. Searching the parking lot, she noticed that the Cullens were nowhere to be found, the image of Jasper in her dreams flickering to the front of her mind.

"I know… I just need everything to stop for a minute."

"Lex?" She heard Angela timidly call from behind her, giving Lex a small smile. "Do you want to see the pictures that I took for class over the weekend?"

Lexi should have known that she could count on Angela, knowing that the kind girl would do anything for anyone if she could; even if it meant ignoring something awful happening in her friend's life to make them feel better.

"Yeah, that would actually be amazing." Lexi breathed in relief, thankful for the distraction.

-x-x-x-

When Alexis walked into photography, she heard the immediate call of her name, followed by the appearance of Alice Cullen by her side. She patted the seat next to her, motioning for the redhead to sit down.

The decision to sit next to the small pixie of a girl, instead of Angela, was one purely made because of the phone call she knew she'd received the previous day. She knew that she had to thank both the girl next to her, and her brother, for checking in on her, since she physically couldn't bring herself to do so the night before.

"Hey, Alice-" She started, though it only took those two words before being cut off.

"Don't thank me for calling yesterday." The Cullen girl insisted, beaming at her new friend. "We don't even have to talk about it, but I want you to know that everything is going to be just fine."

There was something different about the way that Alice said the common cliché. With her accompanied bright smile, Lexi almost wanted to put all of her faith into her words. She honestly thought that Alice fully believed what she was saying without even a sliver of doubt.

"Okay… Thank you." Lex's eyes widened as she realised she technically sounded like she was doing exactly what she'd been asked not to. "For not talking about it, that is. Not for the call."

Alice simply chimed a laugh in response. "It's meant to snow today. I bet that everyone will stop focusing on you when that happens, everybody here loves it when it snows."

"Snow? I haven't seen snow in years, I almost forget what it's even like…" She trailed off, mind jumping back to memories of her and her older brother having snowball fights against their parents in their back garden in Ireland.

Seemingly realising where her thoughts had drifted, Alice quickly changed the topic. "Hey, would you mind going on a shopping trip with me some time? I know that when people move to a new town they often want to recreate their look. I also happen to know all the best shops in Seattle. Could we go together soon?"

Lexi couldn't help but be amazed by the way Alice was able to know so much about a person from just the most basic of interactions. She had only just decided that she wanted to get some more clothes and change up her aesthetic two days ago and Alice had already found a way to invite her to go shopping.

"That would actually be really helpful." Lex replied, shifting in her seat with a hint of excitement. "Bella and I are meant to go to Seattle soon, but she really hates shopping for clothes."

"It's a date." Alice giggled, thinking to herself for a moment before turning back to the redhead. "I think we should go in three weeks time, I believe it should be nice enough weather that we could both enjoy it."

As Lexi glanced out the window towards the sky, she wondered what made the other girl think that only three weeks would make such a drastic change to the weather. "Sure, that sounds great, Alice."

"We'll discuss details closer to the time. We can pick your mother up something pretty too."

Alexis gasped, only just remembering what date it was. "Oh my God, it's my mum's birthday next month. So, three weeks time is actually kind of perfect." She couldn't believe that she'd allowed herself to forget her mother's birthday.

A knowing smile crossed Alice's face. "I think I know just what to get her."

"Are you sure? My mother isn't exactly the gift type. She's all about nature, honestly it can be an absolute nightmare to buy for her." The year previously, she'd just bought her mum a range of her favourite flowers.

"Trust me. I'm an expert at giving gifts. There are quite a few smaller shops in Seattle that sell a range of witchy gothic nature type jewellery and clothes, I think she'd really love some of the stuff they have."

Pausing to think it over, Lex actually agreed that her mum would adore a gift like that. "Sounds like a plan."

As the teacher finally came in to start the lesson, Alice beamed at the redhead and turned her attention away. If Lexi didn't know any better, she would think that Alice was clairvoyant.

-x-x-x-

When break rolled around, Lexi felt a lot better as she met up with her group of friends. The snow had started falling gently from the sky, laying thickly on the ground.

"Ew." Bella mumbled from her side, picking a snowflake out of her hair.

Mike looked at her as though she'd just punched a puppy, mouth gaping wide. "You don't like snow?"

"No… All that snow means is that it's too cold for rain. Besides, I thought it was supposed to come down in flakes - you know, each one unique and all that. These just look like the ends of q-tips."

Lexi stifled a laugh at Bella's obvious hatred for the snowfall already. Personally, she expected nothing less from her; she remembered once back in Phoenix when she had offered her best friend an ice-cream and she batted it away from her for being 'too cold'.

"Haven't you seen snow fall before?" The blonde boy asked her.

"Sure I have… On TV."

Laughing at the ever present awkwardness of her best friend. "Bella has more chance of eating a spider than ever wanting to stay outside in the snow longer than she has to."

Mike didn't have much time to respond before a snowball hit him square in the face. Looking over to the direction it came from, they noticed Tyler hunched over laughing next to a small pile of three snowballs.

"Watch yourself, Michael!" Tyler yelled through his gasps. "Enemies are everywhere!" With that, he swiftly picked up the premade balls of snow and ran off behind a picnic table in search of his next target.

"I'll see you at lunch, okay?" Bella called to Lex, shifting towards the double doors. "Once people start throwing wet stuff, I go inside."

The redhead giggled as she watched her walk away, her chuckles dwindling as the realisation that she was once again alone set in. She was happy to see that everyone at school was laughing and running around in the snow; apparently it was the first one of the year.

However, left alone, she had nothing to fend off the thoughts of her brother. He would love to have been there at that moment, he was a master when it came to snowball fight tactics, he never lost. It was the main reason why she always fought for children against parents; there was no way she was going to choose the losing team.

The pain that had swirled in her stomach and head returned, her hand rubbing at her temple to try and soothe it.

The sudden freezing cold seemed to make it even harder for her to breathe. She felt herself beginning to panic, body trembling from the fear seeping through her skin. Lexi had to calm down, she had to try to calm the hell down. School was the last place she could have a breakdown, not now.

Calm down, calm down, calm down.

Her mind flashed to the dream that she'd had the night before, her eyes darting all around the yard until they found what they searched for.

Golden eyes.

Before she could contemplate a single thing, she was up and making her way over. She barely registered the fact he was standing having a conversation with Alice, barely registered when her walk became a flat out run. As she jumped into his arms, she hardly noticed that he'd opened them up in waiting for her.

The last thing she expected was for him to hold her tightly against his body as she let out a huge breath.

But the wave of calm that she'd come to relate to him never came. Instead, it just felt peaceful. Her body tingled with an entirely new feeling that she couldn't fully understand; it wasn't a rush that flooded through her from her head to her toes, but just the sense that everything was right.

"I'm sorry." Lexi whimpered, feeling him lower her to her feet. "I don't know why, but… I just think I need to be around you right now…" She explained, unable to meet his gaze.

His icy cold touch tucked under her chin in less than a second, raising her eyes to meet his. "Anything you need…" Jasper whispered, surprise mixed with a feeling she couldn't place swirling in his irises. "Anything."

"Why don't you take her for a walk, Jazz?" Alice chimed in from the side, glancing around at the stares that were directed at the three of them. "I doubt anyone would judge her for taking the next two periods off."

He looked between the two girls, offering his arm out to the redhead. "Only if you want to."

Lex found her body moving on its own accord as she accepted his arm and agreed to skip the next two lessons. The idea of being away from him for Gym just then felt unbearable, the idea of having to concentrate on anything other than the brand new feeling she now felt seemed ridiculous.

"Thank you." She said softly once they were away from the school.

"For what, exactly?" Jasper asked, though she couldn't bring herself to look at him.

Sighing, Lex came to a halt as they reached a bench. "I don't know… For being here?" Laughing at how ridiculous she sounded, she felt the need to elaborate. "You have this strange calming effect on me most of the time… If I hadn't met you and this happened to me, I just don't know what I would have done."

"You feel calm around me right now?" He seemed panicked for some reason, though she couldn't begin to understand why.

"No. It's not calm that I feel this time. Honestly, I'm not sure what it is, but it's… good."

His shoulders seemed to relax, smiling at the floor before he aimed it towards her. "I'm grateful that I'm able to help you." Taking hold of her hand, he slightly rubbed his thumb against the skin. "It's not often that anyone can solely rely on me for help; I'm usually the one in need of a crutch."

Not being able to picture it, she wondered what on Earth Jasper could possibly need help with. She wondered what he struggled with, how often he needed someone to be there for him because of it. It made her feel sort of pained to imagine him struggling with anything, his face was too perfect to ever be twisted into frustration or distress.

"Are you doing alright?" He asked her, features twisting into worry. "I know you don't wish to talk about it, but you can…"

Something that she only realised in that moment, was that the sadness she was feeling for her brother was still there. It was just the panicked distress that was gone. With that, her eyes began to tear up once more.

"I miss him…" She sniffled, not knowing if she would be able to continue her thoughts until she felt Jasper gently squeeze her hand in reassurance. "I miss him so much that it hurts… And now that I know he might be gone soon… I just don't know if the pain will ever go away. I keep trying not to think about it, but even when I manage to find something to distract me from my thoughts…" She paused, taking a deep breath to try and halt her tears. "Nothing actually makes me feel better. Not completely."

He pulled her slightly closer into his side, just being there for her as she softly cried into his shoulder. "Have you stopped to wonder what he would say to you in this situation?" Jasper asked, his hand moving over her hair in a comforting stroke. "What would he tell you if he were in my place with you right now?"

Lexi thought back to the times he would come into her room to talk to her for no reason, whenever she was upset because he was going on a hike with his friends and leaving her behind for just a few days. He would tell her the same thing each time. "Don't be sad… If you think that anything would stop me from getting back to you then you really don't know me at all."

"I know that it's difficult for you to believe that right now," He tapped her cheek so that she'd look at him again. "But he will make it back to you. I promise."

"I'll see you soon, okay? I promise."

Wiping away the remainder of her tears, she questioned his words. "You really believe that? You believe it so much that you're willing to make such a daring promise?"

"I do."

For some strange reason that she couldn't understand, she believed him. Not only because both him and Alice seemed so sure of what they were saying to her, but she just didn't feel like her brother was gone.

Lexi felt a deep pain from knowing that he was in a coma, and she couldn't help but worry about him and what news her family would hear next. But surely, if he was truly gone, she would know?

"Do you ever think that it's possible to feel that someone is still alive? Even if they're nowhere near you?" She asked, fully expecting him to think she was insane.

A ghost of a smile tugged at his lips, before he responded. "Yeah, I really do."

And she found herself smiling in return. "Thank you for being here for me, Jasper. You somehow knew exactly what to say to make me feel better." Grasping his hand in hers, she accepted the strange feeling that came with his touch. "If you ever need me for anything, if you ever need my help or literally anything… Just let me know, okay?"

Jasper looked taken back, as though that was the last thing he expected her to say to him. But his eyes held an emotion that she couldn't quite place, potentially didn't want to place. There was the slightest tug in her stomach that made her want to examine the feeling more, but she couldn't bring herself to right now…

"I'll let you know, ma'am." He smiled, rising to his feet. "We should return to the school, people will start wondering where you've gone."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." She agreed, ridding herself of the insane thoughts that she'd just had. "Bella would probably stress out if she didn't see me at lunch."

"You're always welcome to sit with my family and I. Alice has been rather keen to spend more time with you recently."

Accepting the offer of his arm, much like when they started their walk, she couldn't help but voice her thoughts. "You know, you're like the stereotypical southern gentleman. You're nothing like the guys of this generation, it's like you were raised in a different time."

"Is that such a terrible thing?" He asked with a smirk.

"No." She laughed, running a hand through her hair. How could that possibly be a bad thing? "I think that it's amazing, really."

They walked together in silence for a few moments whilst she gained the courage to ask him what she'd wanted to for the past couple of minutes.

"So, what does someone like you struggle with? If you don't mind me asking."

Jasper simply smiled to himself. "I don't mind at all. I have a problem with being around other people."

"Like, social anxiety?"

His head tilted from side to side. "Something like that."

"How does that even happen? People would worship the ground you walk on if you asked them to. Well, at least the girls would." Smirking, she noticed him pat her hand.

"It's not about that, honestly it's hard to explain right now." Eyes focused on his hand that covered hers, his lips tugged further up. "You make it better though."

That caught her by surprise, eyes wide for a moment before she collected herself. "How so?"

His silence stretched for a few minutes, until they had reached the parking lot of the school, just in time for the lunch bell.

"I genuinely have no idea."

It seemed that their time together was coming to an end as Alice appeared by their side. How, Lex had no idea, seen as though she'd been nowhere in sight just a few seconds ago.

"Hey guys." The little pixie girl beamed, linking her arm through Lexi's free one. "Lex, I was wondering if you could come sit with me and Rosalie for lunch? I think the guys are away to get into a big snowball fight, trust me when I say that's not something you want to be a part of."

"Erm… Sure, I guess." Lexi couldn't really think of a reason not to. Although, the idea of sitting near Rosalie Hale wasn't the most endearing thought; every time she'd noticed her in the hallway or anywhere else around the school, she'd always worn a deep scowl - glaring at everyone who dared to pass by her.

Already pulling her in the direction of the cafeteria, Alice called back to her brother. "Don't worry Jazz, I'll keep her happy!"

"I don't doubt that." He smirked at his sibling.

"Now," She said, turning her attention back to the redhead as they walked through the double doors. "The one thing to remember about Rose is that she's hard to deal with at first, but don't worry, she'll come around to you."

Something told her that that was hard to believe as they crossed over to the table and found Rosalie already glaring daggers. However, as she sat down, the harsh look appeared to soften. Rose looked at Lexi with confusion instead, as though she were some strange mythical creature that couldn't possibly exist in real life.

"Hey," Lexi decided to make the first move. "I'm Alexis Hanson."

"Rosalie." The blonde replied, tone lighter than expected as she glanced towards Alice.

Alice nudged the two girls playfully. "We're going to be great friends."

-x-x-x-

"Why is he suddenly back, though?" Bella stressed, talking about Edward Cullen's reappearance at the school that day. "And more importantly, what's with this sudden attitude adjustment?"

Thankfully, after her emotional relief with Jasper, everyone had seemed to do their best to act like everything was back to normal with Lexi. Edward's return was a good enough distraction for the population of Forks High School that everyone had turned to whispering about where he'd been for the past week.

"Well, he kind of had to come back to school eventually, don't you think?" Lexi responded, leaning against Bella's truck in thought. "As for the new positive vibe, I honestly don't know. But why is it such a bad thing? You were angry that he was rude to you before, now you're angry that he's being nice? Can the guy not win?"

Shooting her a glare, Bella rummaged around her bag for her car keys. "It's not about that, Lex. It's the fact he just came back and assumed he could act as though last week never happened."

Pondering her best friend's words, she came to slightly agree with her. "I guess he did go to the extent of trying to change classes to get away from you… Maybe he was just having a bad day and hated having to be near anyone new? It might have not been specifically you he had a problem with, so now that he's back he's trying to make amends?"

"He was acting like I was this awful thing. I'm telling you, I wasn't assuming anything, he had a problem with me."

Before Lexi could say anything more, she felt her phone vibrating from her pocket. Fidgeting to get it out, she glanced at the screen to see her mother's contact information. Her entire body tensed, not wanting to assume what the phone call could contain.

"Lex?" Bella placed a hand on her shoulder, looking to see what had her so spooked. "Are you alright? Do we need to go now?"

Shaking her head, she gave her best friend a gentle smile. "No, it's fine. I'll just see what she wants."

"Lex," Her mother spoke as she answered the phone, her tone calm, reassuring Alexis that whatever she was away to say wouldn't have anything terrible to do with her brother. "Pepper got out again, you may want to keep an eye out."

"Again?" The girl sighed, thinking back to the amount of times she'd often have to watch out for the pup back in Phoenix. "How did she even-?" She cut herself off, deciding the reasoning wasn't important. "Alright, I'm sure she'll find me. Pep usually does."

"Alright, be safe, love."

Honestly, her mother's calm demeanour was quite relieving for Lexi. It meant that she must have convinced herself that Adam was going to be okay, otherwise she'd still be a wreck. And if there was something she knew, it was that her mother was rarely wrong about things.

"I'll see you soon, okay? I promise!"

Had she had a dream similar to hers? It was so lifelike, so real, that it was extremely hard to believe that he hadn't been right there inside her mind with her.

"Pepper has gotten out again." She explained, running a hand through her hair. "First time in Forks, I don't know why I thought it would take longer."

"We'll go look for her." Bella opened the truck door, ready to hop in and go searching like they used to back in Phoenix. Though back there they had no car.

As if on cue, a soft bark was heard from the other side of the parking lot. Turning in the direction of the noise, Lex was certain Pepper was there, seeing her hopping around a select few students.

The Cullens.

"Great." She sighed, weakly jogging over to the other side of the lot. "Pepper!"

Hearing her voice, the little dog turned towards her with her tongue sticking out of her mouth. It was the happiest Lex had seen her in quite a while.

Reaching out, she watched as Pepper ran towards her and leapt up into her open arms. "You have to stop doing this, Pep. One of these days you're not going to be so lucky and run into me."

"She's adorable." Alice squealed as she appeared next to the two. "Does she often meet you from school?"

"Honestly, it happened way too many times back in Phoenix, my mum always left the gate open when she was painting. I was hoping it would be different here." Stroking the soft fur of her loyal pet, she was at least happy that she'd made her way to her in the new town. "I'm really sorry, everyone back in Phoenix used to get so annoyed at her jumping up at them."

A soft chuckle caught her attention from close by. "Oh, I think we can handle a tiny thing like that."

Glancing to the side, she noticed Jasper with a smirk, giving him one in return. "She'd still take you down."

"I accept the challenge." He responded with a raised eyebrow, making a move to walk over, before a hand came up to his chest.

"We should get going." Edward cut in, giving Alice a pointed look.

As he locked eyes with Lexi, she blinked and couldn't help but see the same red eyes she'd been sure she'd seen Alice just a few days ago. However, much like with her friend's, they were gone within less than a second.

Edward's eyes marginally squinted towards her, as if trying to understand some challenging puzzle; looking almost panicked in a way.

Taking that as her cue to go, she chose to ignore the way the rest of the Cullen clan turned towards him, making her way back towards Bella and swiftly into the truck with Pepper. She tried to piece together what just happened, but came out empty as she so often did in Forks.

"Are you okay?" Bella asked, getting in beside her best friend. "You look freaked, Lex."

Shaking her head with a faint laugh, Lex shoved her hand through her hair again and leaned against the cold window. "It seems like that's all that people ask me now. I'm fine, Bella. Can we just take Pepper home? I'm actually kind of exhausted and think I'm ready to sleep for the next week."

Her eyes drifted back towards the Cullens, noticing the way they all stared after the truck.

Had Edward seen anything like she did? Did he see her with devil horns or blood staining her skin? Maybe Forks just had a way of making people paranoid; made them see things that weren't there, or assume the worst.

Maybe she should have begged her father to stay in Phoenix…

-x-x-x-

A/N: Another chapter downnnnnnnn. I know it might seem like this could potentially be a bit manipulative if he's controlling her emotions but it will all be explained eventually and that's so not the case, I promise, so just hang in there if you're thinking this is off! Jasper ain't a dick, we know this, c'mon.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter and will have a good new year!

~ fawningfantasy x