chapter 4

(Jasper's POV)

I took in a deep breath of the fresh air, allowing it to fill my lungs as I exited the foreign language building next to the gymnasium. Being closed into a small classroom with twenty-sum blood-filled human students gets extremely tedious after an hour.

Emmett had been in that class with me and we chatted as we neared the gym.

Just as we passed by the set of double doors, I felt someone bump into me and their books scattered all over the pavement. I knew who it was before I even had to look as the smell of lilacs and apples drifted up to my nose and an electric spark fluttered through me from where her bare skin had momentarily touched mine.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" She apologized as her face turned a beautiful scarlet color. 

I gave her a lazy smile as I brushed it off, "It's quite alright. Can I help you with those?" I squatted down to assist her in gathering up her books and loose papers before the wind succeeded in blowing them away.

"Thanks," She murmured softly with a shy smile. I handed her the last of her belongings as we both stood up.

"You're very welcome." I answered. Emmett was watching us from off to the side, ready to come to my rescue, should I need it. He shot me a questioning look, silently asking me if I would be okay on my own. I responded with a discrete head nod and finally introduced myself to the girl who’d been plaguing my every thought for the past several weeks now, "My name is Jasper," I said as I extended my hand.

She shuffled the books she held in her arms over to one side before placing her delicate hand in mine.

"Natalie," she smiled as an electric current ran up my arm. I could hear her heart rate picking up speed and she stared down at our hands in wonder.

"It's very nice to meet you officially," I told her with a grin, my eyes locking onto hers as they peered back up at me. 

God, her eyes were sure something to look at.

The sound of someone clearing their throat broke us out of our trance. The smell of human blood caused my mouth to reflexively fill with venom and my throat to burn. We quickly dropped our hands and looked over to see Bella and Jessica Stanley holding their books and staring at the two of us. Her sister was radiating amusement and wonder, while Jessica - though she had a smirk on her face – was sending out waves of petty jealousy and curiosity.

I decided to be the first to speak in an attempt at breaking up some of the tension. "I'm Jasper Hale. You're Isabella, right?" I introduced myself, though, from overhearing Jessica telling both of them about my family and I, I knew that she already knew that. I also already knew her name, but I didn't know if she preferred to shorten it or not, so I left room for her to make any corrections.

"Bella," She nodded nervously as her eyes kept moving over to her sister.

I swallowed another mouth full of venom before I was able to respond and gave her a polite, close-lipped smile. "It's nice to meet you."

"Yeah, you too." Bella nodded, though she seemed to be looking at me funny and her emotions were thriving with curiosity and anticipation. What was she anticipating, I had no idea.

There was a moment of silence where we all looked at each other uncomfortably. I was beginning to contemplate my escape when Natalie spoke, bringing my attention to her as she looked down at her boots and then back up at her sister.

"Give us a minute, Bells. I'll meet you in the front office to turn in our slips."

Bella nodded before looking back at me skeptically and then turned on her heel to leave, taking an over-excited Jessica Stanley with her. My tension-filled body finally relaxed some and the fire in my throat dimmed down to a small flame with their distance. I could still hear them, even though Jessica thought that they were out of ear-shot. Bella didn't seem to participate with any of the gossip that Jessica was trying to drag out of her, only shrugging her shoulders occasionally while Jessica prattled onward.

"May I walk you to your locker?" I asked Natalie, once again gaining her attention.

"Sure," she smiled. 

I gestured ahead and we began to walk side by side at a slow human pace towards what looked to be the English building.

We began to make small talk, though I was beginning to feel anxious, not knowing what to say now that she was finally standing here in front of me. 

We started out simple as we spoke about the classes we had together and continued to flirt with our body language; a shy smile, brushing casually against her side, placing a hand on her back as I guided her through the throng of students, as I attempted to get to know her.

"How do you like Forks so far?" I asked.

She shrugged. "I've been here plenty of times with Bella when we would visit our dad, so I already knew what I was getting myself into when we moved. I'm not a big fan of the rain, so it was one of the many downsides to moving here."

"Forks must be a difficult place for you to live then." I observed as I guided her around the outside of a puddle.

"You have no idea," she answered in a low voice, glowering down at it for a moment. It made me wonder what had happened to make her dislike the town so much, but I planned on changing that as we would hopefully spend more time together here in Forks. 

We continued on in our conversation, her answers to my questions as we spoke were never what I had expected and only made me want to ask more, learn more.

"What made you move here, anyway?" I asked curiously. Alice never went into detail when telling me about my mate. She only said that my mate was going to be arriving here at the school in a handful of weeks and that we needed to end our companionship.

"It's…complicated." She blinked her wide eyes, leaving it at that, and I nearly imploded out of curiosity – the curiosity burned as hot as the thirst in my throat. However, as I stepped closer to her in an attempt to avoid running into another student, I found that it became easier to breathe; the agony that I usually experienced around humans seemed to have an exception with my mate. She almost made being around all of these hormonal teenagers more bearable, and I was grateful for the reprieve.

"I think I can keep up." I joked as I threw a smirk in her direction.

She bit her lip slightly as she contemplated how she would answer my question. I noticed that she did that while she was deep in thought or deliberating a question. I found it rather endearing...and tempting.

She looked up suddenly. It was a relief to be able to see those eyes again. I didn't even need my gift to be able to see the emotions that were constantly swirling inside of them. She was so easy to read.

Natalie spoke in a rush, hurrying through her words. "My mother got remarried."

Ah, this was easy enough to understand. My heart almost broke for her as sadness passed through her (clear blue eyes.

"That doesn't sound so complex," I said as gently as I could.

Her sadness was leaving me feeling helpless, wishing that there was something I could do to make her feel better. It was a strange impulse, but I cocked it up to being a part of the mating bond that was quickly forming between us. 

"When did it happen?" I asked, wanting to hear more of her soothing voice. Everything about her was calming the supernatural beast within me. 

"Last September." She exhaled heavily – not quite a sigh.

"And what? You don't like the guy?" I guessed, fishing for more.

"No, Phil is fine," she corrected my assumption. There was a hint of a smile now around the corners of her full lips. "Too young, maybe, but he’s nice enough."

"And Bella? She have any objections?”

Natalie shrugged, "If she did, she didn't say so, but otherwise they seemed to get along alright." She answered before I opened the door to the English building and held it open for her to enter before me.

"Why didn't you stay with them?" I asked, frowning at the thought of her never having come to Forks.

"Phil travels a lot. He plays ball for a living." The little smile grew more pronounced; this career choice amused her.

I smiled too without even realizing it. I wasn't even trying to make her feel at ease, but her smile just made me want to smile in response – to be in on the secret.

"Have I heard of him?" I ran through the rosters of professional ball players in my head, wondering which Phil was hers…

"Probably not. I said that he plays, not that he plays well." Another smile. "He’s strictly minor league. He moves around a lot." She clarified as we stopped in front of what I assumed to be her locker and she began to spin the dial on her combination lock. 

I pointed coincidentally to a locker on the other side of the hall from hers, and, with a sly smile, made my way over to open it. I quickly shuffled my books into my bag and slugged it easily across my back before shutting my locker and clearing the dial. As I was doing this, the minor league baseball rosters shifted into my head instantly, and I'd tabulated a list of possibilities in less than a second. At the same time, I was thinking of my next question to ask her.

"So, your mother is the one who sent you here so she could travel with him to his away games?" I guessed, and her chin jutted out adorably, her expression suddenly stubborn.

"No, she did not send me here," she answered, and her voice had a new, hard edge to it. My question had upset her, though I couldn't quite see how? "I sent myself."

I could not guess at her meaning, or the source behind her pique. I was entirely lost.

So I gave up, not wanting to upset her any further during our first real conversation. She wasn't like other humans and it was something that I noticed right from the start. She wasn't afraid of me and, while that thrilled me to a point, it also slightly unnerved me that her sense of self-preservation wasn't kicking in.

"I don't understand," I admitted and she sighed to herself, shutting her locker and clearing her lock. She then turned and stared into my eyes again. It was odd for me, because she was able to do something that most normal humans were not able to stand. 

"She stayed with us at first, but she missed him," she explained slowly, her tone growing more forlorn with each word. "It made her unhappy… so Bella and I talked and we decided that it was time to spend some quality time with Charlie."

"But now you're unhappy." I murmured.

"And?" she said, as if this was not even an aspect to be considered. I didn't like the thought of that and decided right then and there that I would change that. I couldn't bear to have my mate unhappy.

I continued to stare into her eyes, feeling that I'd finally gotten my first real glimpse into her soul. I saw in that one word where she ranked herself among her own priorities. Unlike most humans, her own needs were far down the list.

She was selfless.

As I saw this, the mystery of the girl hiding inside of this beautiful being was beginning to thin a little.

"That doesn't seem fair." I finally said.

She laughed, but there was no amusement in her emotions or in the sound.

"Hasn't anyone ever told you? Life isn't fair."

I wanted to laugh at her words, though I, too, felt no real amusement. I knew a little something about the unfairness of life. "I believe I have heard that somewhere before."

She stared back at me, seeming confused. Her eyes flickered away, and then came back to mine.

"So, that's all really." She told me.

I studied her for a moment as she leaned against her locker before I began to guide her back towards the doors of the English building, careful not to touch her bare skin with my ice cold hands. I held the door open for her again, letting her leave ahead of me, as was the gentlemanly thing to do, and began to walk with her across the school grounds towards the front office building.

"You put on a good show." I told her, still considering this next hypothesis. "But I'd be willing to bet that you're suffering more than you let anyone see."

She made a face, her eyes narrowing straight ahead and her mouth twisting into a lopsided pout. She looked up at me quickly before looking forward again. She didn't like it that I’d guessed that right. She wasn't your average martyr – she didn't want an audience to witness her pain.

"Am I wrong?"

She flinched slightly, but otherwise pretended not to hear me. That made me smile somewhat, liking that she had a stubborn streak along with her selflessness.

"I didn't think so."

We began to pick up our pace as we walked quickly the rest of the way to the office building trying to dodge the raindrops.

I opened the door for her, once again letting her walk in ahead of me, but , before I could even walk in to the office, I was hit with a truck load of blood lust. It was enough to make me nearly stumble due to it's un-expectancy and it’s strength, but it wasn't my own.