'I'll make it through the winter if it
But why does it go slower when I
I'll angel in the snow until I'm worthy
If it kills me, I tried'
Snow Angel, Renee Rapp
Charlie ended up missing the party entirely. After they finished cleaning up the car crash in town, Charlie was too exhausted and just drove himself home for the night. Joan had stayed up waiting for him and just texted Jessica they were going to miss the party. Joan texted her to drive home safely as the roads were covered in black ice.
Jessica's friends aside from Angela had mostly sobered up by midnight. None of them had the gall to try and sneak the wine and beer around the adults in the party so all the food they ate had absorbed the alcohol. None of them were still going to be allowed to drive. Angela was the designed driver and needed Jessica's help to herd their friends into Mike's red Toyota Corolla.
"I love you, Jess," Lauren said in a sing-song as Jess half-carried the blonde towards the car.
Lauren was wearing knee high boots that made her four inches taller and she hovered over Jessica like a Viking woman.
"I love you too, Laur," Jessica replied, as she tried to keep the blonde from slipping on the snow. Angela had opened the door of the backseat and Jessica tried to push Lauren inside where Eric and Tyler were already half-asleep. "Come on, blondie. In you go."
She managed to get Lauren's long legs into the vehicle. Before she could close the door, Lauren asked, "Are you not coming home with us?"
"I'm riding with Bella," Jessica answered, reaching into the car to buckle the seatbelt on Lauren. "I'll see you at school next week."
Jessica closed the car door on a pouting Lauren. Angela had managed to wrangle Mike in the front seat and had buckled his seatbelt in. Angela went around the car to take the driver's seat. She turned to Jessica and smiled.
"Thanks for the help, Jess."
"No problem, Ang. I'll see you next week."
"See you next week."
Angela slid into the driver's seat and closed the car door. After strapping herself in, she turned on the car engine and drove the car away. Jessica waved as the red car drove off into the night. She knew Angela would drive safely but still hoped they got home okay.
Speaking of home, Jessica could feel the tiredness settling in and she let out a yawn. She needed to get home and get some sleep. All she wanted was to crawl into her bed with a thick comforter and sleep the next day away. Even in her coat, Jessica was still cold and she made her way quickly back inside the Cullens' house to look for Bella.
Jessica looked for Bella around the party. The adults and her classmates were also on their way out and was bidding Dr. and Mrs. Cullen goodbye before heading to their cars outside. Jessica went around the goodbye procession and looked around the first floor's rooms in search of the brunette. Bella wasn't in the public places like the living room, kitchen, and even the room with the grand piano.
Jessica realized Bella might be upstairs. She had never been upstairs before and knew it had to be where the bedrooms were. Uncomfortable with invading the Cullens' personal spaces, she looked for one of the Cullen siblings and found the majority of them in the balcony upstairs. Of course, none of them was affected by the winter chill and were sitting around in their party outfits.
Rosalie and Alice were in dresses that would have given anyone else frostbite. They still looked amazing as usual. It was truly unfair how vampirism made you eternally hot and immune to the cold. Maybe there was perks to joining Club Undead though Jessica would never admit it aloud especially not around Alice and Emmett. No need to encourage their delusions.
Jessica slid the balcony doors open. "Hey. Have any of you seen Bella?"
"She's in Edward's bedroom," Alice answered. "With Edward."
Jessica paused. The Cullen siblings all were staring at her, no one wanting to break the silence. Jessica opened her mouth to ask a question then closed it again. Emmett cleared his throat and Jasper ran a hand through his blond hair.
"They're not having sex," Rosalie said, finally. "At least that's not what I'm able to hear from here."
"They're arguing," Emmett clarified. "Or having an intense discussion about having sex. We shouldn't be listening in but it's too interesting to stop and we can't turn off the super hearing."
"Oh." Jessica looked around, trying to find what to say next. "Are they in the process of…having sex? Should I just leave?"
God, this was embarrassing. How had her life turned into a farce? The worst thing she could do was walk in on the two in the middle of having sex. She didn't know how she could look either of them in the eye after that.
"They're about to finish talking," Alice told her. "Just give them a few more minutes."
"It's really no bother if I go home alone. I can drive Bella's truck and one of you can drive her home later if that's okay?"
Edward should drive Bella home. He was her boyfriend. That was his job. Also, did he really take what Jessica told him to heart about communicating about sex? Did he have to have this conversation tonight of all nights?
Alice stood up from where she was seated. "They should be done now. I'll go with you to go get Bella."
"Are you sure they're done talking?"
Or having freaky dicky sex she didn't want to walk into?
Alice nodded and walked over to Jessica. She looped her arm with the other girl's and led her down the hallway to what must be Edward's room. Before they could knock on the door, it opened with Bella stepping out. The brunette stopped when she saw them, looking flustered and upset.
"Hey, Bells," Jessica said, awkwardly. "Are you ready to go home?"
Bella nodded, looking in the pockets of her sweater for her keys. "Yeah, um. Let's go home."
"You shouldn't drive," Alice said. "You had too much to drink."
"It was just some wine coolers," Bella replied, flippantly. "I, uh, just wanted to relax a little bit."
Edward was at the doorway, looking more morose than usual if that was possible. "I can drive you home, Bella-"
"No!" Bella exclaimed, her face bright red. She wouldn't look at him. "Jessica can drive me home. Right?"
Bella's pleading brown eyes were hard to say no to. Jessica glanced at Edward who looked guilty. What happened between these two? She would get Bella to tell her in the car ride home.
"Of course," Jessica said, taking the keys from Bella. "Let's go home."
Edward tried to reason with them. "You shouldn't drive out there. The roads are dangerous-"
"We'll be fine, Edward," Bella snapped.
They all paused.
Bella never snapped at Edward.
She looked at him like he hung the moon and stars every night.
Jessica looked at Edward suspiciously. How badly did he fuck up to piss off Bella Swan?
Edward sighed and rubbed at his forehead as if he was staving off a migraine. "I'll follow you in my car at least. Just to make sure nothing happens."
"Nothing will happen," Bella insisted. "Just stay here and leave me alone. I don't want you around me tonight. I mean it."
Edward looked stricken like she had just slapped him across the face.
Bella shook her head, looking like she was either about to cry or scream. "Don't show up in my room. Just stay here."
Before he could say anything else, Bella walked away and down the stairs. Jessica didn't know what to think. She looked at Edward questioningly. What did he do?
"That's none of your business," Edward remarked.
No matter. Jessica would get Bella to tell her.
"You're going to follow us in your Volvo, aren't you?" she asked.
He inclined his head which was as good as a yes. "Drive safely."
Jessica gave him a two-finger salute and went to follow Bella outside. After a moment, the Cullens all followed. They stood in the front porch as she and Bella slid into Old Bertha. Bella buckled her seatbelt in and refused to look behind her.
"Are you okay?" Jessica asked as she turned on the car engine. "Do you want to talk about?"
"No."
Jessica looked at the side mirror and saw Edward's reflection. He blended in with the snow around him. He was so pale he could almost be colorless. Like a ghost.
Bella looked at her questioningly. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
Jessica pulled the car out of driveway and they made their way home.
"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?" Jessica asked. "Otherwise, this is going to be a long hour of awkward silence."
Bella sighed, still looking out of the window and refusing to meet her gaze. "It's embarrassing. I shouldn't have even…I should have known better but I was stupid. And now Edward thinks I'm…"
"Thinks you're what?"
"He's going to think I'm easy," Bella blurted out. "That I'm some kind of slut."
"Oh." Jessica tried to keep her eyes on the road. "What happened?"
"I wanted to…I thought I was ready to…it's stupid. I'm stupid. I shouldn't have done anything."
"Okay, how about you start from the beginning and we'll go from there."
Bella told her that she thought she was ready to have sex for the first time. She wanted it to be with Edward. She was nervous so she drank wine coolers that she grabbed from the party without anyone noticing. She'd been tipsy but she was still sure about what she wanted until she and Edward were alone in his room.
"I tried to start things…I tried to take off my shirt but he stopped me."
"And then what happened?"
"He started talking about how this was wrong and we shouldn't be doing things like this if we're not married." Bella covered her face in her hands. "He won't have sex without marriage. Who does that?"
"Mormons?" Jessica suggested. "A lot of religious people, I suppose. And then what did you tell him?"
"I said I didn't even know if I believe in marriage. I'm a child of divorce. I've never been the kind of girl that dreams about weddings. I can't even think about if I want to go to college or not."
"And then what did he say?"
"He said that he believed very strongly in waiting before marriage. And anything else is unacceptable," Bella answered. "Which makes me the proverbial scarlet woman for wanting sex!"
Good God. It was worse than Jessica thought.
"Did he call you a scarlet woman?"
"No, but he made me feel like one."
"He's a dick."
Bella's eyebrows furrowed. Still inclined to defend him, she said, "He's not. Edward is just…um, traditional."
"A traditional dick."
Bella bit her lip, either trying not to laugh or smile.
Jessica glanced at her side mirror and sure enough Edward's Volvo was trailing them from afar. She didn't know if he could hear them from this distance but she didn't care.
"Say it," Jessica goaded. "Edward Cullen is a traditional dick."
Bella shook her head. "I can't."
"Yes, you can. He made you feel like Jezebel or Mary Magdalena for just wanting sex which is a completely natural thing."
Bella looked conflicted.
"It'll make you feel better. I promise," Jessica assured her. "Edward Cullen is a traditional dick. See? I feel better already."
That made Bella smile. She closed her eyes as she said, "Edward Cullen…is a… traditional dick."
"Say it faster."
"Edward Cullen is a…traditional dick."
"Faster!"
"Edward Cullen is a traditional dick!"
"Atta girl, Swan!"
They burst into laughter, realizing how ridiculous what they were saying was. Jessica glanced at Bella and realized that for all intents and purposes Bella Swan was her sister. Even though their parents weren't legally wed yet, Jessica wasn't an only child anymore. She would always have a sibling out there-
"Jess, watch out!"
Jessica turned to look back on the road and saw that there was a deer just standing there. It stood still staring back at them and not moving out of the way. Jessica had to quickly swerve the car out of the way to avoid hitting the deer. With the slickness of the black ice beneath them, she lost control of the car and it skidded off the road and downhill into the woods.
The truck was spinning and everything went black.
Jessica woke up and realized she was upside down. Panic made her look around her surroundings. She was in Old Bertha which was upside down on the snowy ground. She turned to see an unconscious Bella.
Jessica reached for her seatbelt and unbuckled it. Gravity forcing her down on the roof of the car and the windshield. She crawled towards Bella to unbuckle her seatbelt. The car door was ripped open and Edward Cullen's worried face appeared.
"Are you okay?" His golden gaze locked unto Bella who was still passed out. "Bella?"
"I'm going to get her seatbelt," Jessica told him. "Catch her."
Edward nodded and Jessica undid Bella's seatbelt. Edward caught the brunette quickly and pulled her carefully out of the car. Jessica followed and crawled out of the car. Edward laid Bella on the soft snow and helped pull Jessica out of the truck.
"How's Bella?" she asked.
"Broken ribs and a concussion," he replied. "She might have some internal bleeding. I need to get her to hospital."
Bella looked unusually pale on the snow beneath her. Her lips were turning blue. She was dying. They needed to get her out of there.
"What are you waiting for, Cullen? Take her to the hospital."
His golden gaze stared at her in disbelief. "You're injured too, Jessica."
"I'm fine! You'll be faster on foot than with your car, right? Get her to the hospital and send someone else to come get me. Or I'll drive your car to the hospital."
"You shouldn't be driving in this state-"
"Then I'll wait here!" she insisted. "Go! You're wasting time!"
Edward gently picked up Bella who looked frail in his arms like a broken bird. He met Jessica's gaze and said, "I'll send someone for you. I promise."
"Whatever. Just go."
Edward was gone in a gust of wind, too fast for her to see in the speed he was moving in. She sat down on the snow, not even feeling the cold. That was odd. She should go to his car and wait inside of it till helped arrived. It'd be warm inside.
Jessica forced herself to get on her feet. Her legs were shaky, unable to take her weight far. She stumbled into the snow and began to crawl towards the road. She was out of breath before she could reach it.
Maybe she should lie down for a little bit. Just to regain some of her strength back. She lied down on her back, the snow soft and comforting beneath her. The night sky looked like an inky blanket above her.
Something felt wet. She touched her abdomen and found a piece of metal that must have been from the truck was embedded in her stomach. She didn't feel any pain. The shock and adrenaline were still numbing her from feeling anything.
Jessica was so tired. She just wanted to sleep. She could pretend she was back home in her bed, safe and sound. She stared up at the sky and tried to make out the constellations.
There was the North Star and the Big Dipper. She remembered her Dad teaching her about the stars during all those camping trips she hated. She wished she had gone on more camping trips with him. She shouldn't have complained so much when all he wanted was to spend time with her.
Was she dying? Was this it? This was all she got? She was only seventeen. She didn't even get to reach eighteen. Seventeen sucked. It was a middle year.
Jessica wouldn't even get to have her senior year. No graduation. No college. No Stanford. Everything she had worked so hard for would just melt away like the snow around her come spring.
This was unfair! She had so much to live for. So many things she didn't get to do. She tried to force herself to get up but her body disobeyed, giving in to fatigue. Her limbs felt too heavy.
Jessica looked down at herself and saw the red blood pooling around her, stark against the white snow. Like a morbid snow angel. She dug her hand in the snow, trying to will herself to stay awake. She couldn't die.
Somebody would come. Somebody was going to save her. Edward Cullen promised her. She wasn't going to die here alone, forgotten and discarded.
"Help," she whispered. "Please."
There were footsteps crunching on the snow. She couldn't turn her head to look. Breathing was becoming hard. The footsteps crept slower then stopped.
A pair of blood red eyes stared down at her.
And this is it for New Girl. Thank you for all your support and sticking with me even when I would disappear for months. This is going to be it for this book. There will be no more chapters.
1. Song title is from a Renee Rapp song.
2. Is Jessica dead? You'll find out in the sequel. The sequel will be called 'New Life' but that won't be written until I finish Impractical. Sorry but you're going to have to wait.