Before We Were Us ○ Jasper Hale 2

We Hurt Those We Love Most

"You have to come to school today!!"
"I don't know Bernadette... I feel horrible." And it was the truth. I stayed home from school one day and the next? I felt like absolute death. Each day is getting worse and worse, can't eat, can't sleep, and if I go back today? I'll have to face Jasper in gym.
"Look, you're being ridiculous and melodramatic. Get your ass out of your little pity party and show the hell up." She demands before ending the call. I don't want to move, let alone get out of bed, least of all go to school!! Yet, here I am, getting out of a shower and putting on clothes. Looking at myself in the mirror for a while, I walk out of my room and down the stairs, out of my house and all the way past the bus stop. I'm not taking the bus, I'll walk. I don't want to deal with Bernadette's criticism today.
•
I look down at my phone and sigh, just in time for gym. Yay.
Walking into the building, I get a late slip from the main office before stopping at my locker, reveling in the silence of the hallways. Just as I slam my locker closed, however, the bell rings and students flood the hallways. I throw my bag over my shoulders and make my way to the gym. Looking around, I find that I beat Jasper here.
I throw my bag to the side of the gym and sit in the squat spot shared by Jasper and me and bring my legs to my chest. I wrap my arms around my legs and rest my chin on my knees, ignoring everyone else around me. I feel a shift within me and it causes me to look up and I lock eyes with Jasper as he pauses at the door. I feel the weight that has seemed to consume me lift and I watch as he makes his way over to me, not breaking eye contact. I tear my eyes away from him once he's close enough and he sits just close enough where we're almost touching but not quite. "Have you been ill?" He asks soothingly and I take a deep breath that he seems to mimic. "Yeah." I reply quietly, hugging myself closer, he stays quiet for a while. "Pretty pathetic huh? Causing that scene." I mumble, turning so I'm facing him. "No, I thought it was quite bad ass." He smirks his lop sided smile and I felt my spirit lift completely, causing me to chuckle.
"Bad ass huh?" I smile with a nod when I see Bernadette blaze into the gym and she was looking furious when her eyes land on Jasper and I see her put on her face. "Thea!! You're finally back!!" She giggles and I nod while my smile wavers and she sits down next to me.
"Bernadette, this is Jasper, Jasper, this is who I've told you about."
"All good things I hope." She giggles falsely, looking to me with a smile on her lips but a glare in her eyes, Jasper doesn't say anything and for the first time ever, Bernadette's personality disgusts me. "I think I left something in my bag." I mutter and walk away from, leaving them alone. I take a deep breath and sit by my bag with my back against the bleachers so Bernadette and Jasper were on my right. I glance at them quickly to see Bernadette talking and Jasper not replying. He looks tense. He looks like he's in pain. He glances at me and stares me down until I see Bernadette starting to look over so I pretend I'm doing something on my phone. The bell rings and Creedy's whistle blows and I hear him start screaming at Bernadette. I watch as she leaves through the door to my left, kicking my foot on her way. I feel my heart twist as I watch her out...
It was probably an accident.
"Robinson!!!!" Creedy shouts, making me jump. I stuff my phone into my bag and hurry over to Jasper, sitting beside him. "That was your best friend?" He asks and I nod, stretching.
"She doesn't like you." He says quietly, hesitantly, but he doesn't look at me at first, almost ashamed of what he did but not quite. "I know that." I mumble back with reluctance, making him look up at me. "It's your fault you know." I chuckle, attempting to make it sound light but it really does hurt.
"She hates me because you talk to me and don't like her." I nod, playing with my shoe laces. "I have no interest in her." He says and I nod a little, standing up with the rest of the class.
"Then you shouldn't have any interest in me." I reply and go to walk away but he grabs my wrist and I turn back to him. "I am not able to leave you alone, Miss Xanthia." He speaks and the way he utters his words confuses me for half a step before I jump right back on the train of thought.
"She's my only friend, Jasper." I shake my head no and take my wrist out of his hand and walking away to go outside on the track.
•
"You've got some nerve, you know that?" A voice sounds, slamming my locker shut and making me jump. I look over, expecting to see Bernadette but instead, I'm met with Rosalie Hale. Jasper's twin sister. "W-What?"
"You have no idea how hard it is for Jasper to be around people other then our family, and you just tell him to fuck off?" She says in bewilderment.
"Every other girl in this school would worship him." She adds and I feel a spark light up in me.
"Yeah, cause every other girl wants to say they've slept with a Cullen." I spit right back and she looks a little surprised, can't blame her, I am too. Ever fiber of my being is screaming at me to run away.
"Oh, and that friend of yours, I suppose she's just been the model freaking citizen?" She growls quickly and I avert eye contact.
"You're no better than her." She mumbles and I sigh, turning to my locker. I watch her move so she's leaning against Jasper's locker and I look up to her.
"I can see the way you're holding yourself back, okay? And it's pissing me off!!" She says loudly. "I don't care if she's your only friend, ever heard of dating the family?" She says moodily, no longer making eye contact.
"Cause if you're gonna be around one of us, all of us come along with that." She mutters.
"So stop trying to make this a drama." She grumbles before Alice Cullen bounces up. "Rosalie, stop yelling at her." She scolds.
"She's being impossible!!" Rosalie protests as I finally close my locker.
"Well, you can't force her to do something she doesn't want to do."
"Oh, and I suppose you're any better?" Rosalie shoots right back and Alice clears her throat tersely, making me chuckle. How ever confrontational this is, it made me feel a little better.
"Whatever, when you're ready to grow up, you know where to find us." Rosalie growls and stomps off.
"Bye Thea!!" Alice grins and I watch as they walk down the hallway. I make my way towards the cafeteria with the longer way and make it there a minute after the bell rings. Taking a deep breath, I walk in and get myself a sandwich, carrots, and water. I take my trey and sit across from Bernadette who was already glaring towards me.
"Hey." I reply, eating a carrot.
"So?" She asks moodily.
"So what?" I ask, eating another carrot.
"What the hell did he say about me!?" She shouts at me and I look up at her, staring into her demeaning eyes. "Well?" She asks, her tone making my heart race and pump angry blood through my veins.
"You know what? I'm gonna go to the library." I nod, gathering my stuff and lunch. "What. Did. He. Say." She growls out. "I'm not going to ask again." She says as if I were an infant.
"He's not interested." I shoot back.
"What? What'd he say exactly!? No guy is ever not interested!!!"
"I have no interest in her." I repeat Jasper's words and her expression changes completely, first to shock, then sadness, then hate. "This is all your fault. If you hadn't gotten in the way in the first place-"
"Then you never would have even talked to him!!" I shout over her, shocking her. I throw my trey down and roll my eyes. "Talk to me when you're done with the shit, Bernadette."
"I'm never talking to you again." She shakes her head no, making me freeze, my heart racing a mile a minute.
"Are you sure about that?" My voice cracks slightly.
"I've never been more sure about anything in my entire life." She spits and I take a deep breath, smiling to keep the anxiety away.
"Goodbye Bernadette." I nod before turning and walking out of the lunch room without my lunch, not like I'm hungry anymore anyway.
I make my way to the library as fast as I can, beaming for the big comply chairs and ripping the fattest book I could find off a shelf, my heart beating a mile a second and my throat closing up.
I'm alone. Completely and utterly alone. This isn't like our other fights, this is serious. She doesn't want me anymore. It's over.
"Xanthia..." I hear and spin around, my hands shaking as I face the one person who caused all of this. "J-Jasper."
I involuntarily stutter, lost for a moment before I snap back into reality.
I open my mouth to tell him to leave but I don't actually know if he followed me, though I'm pretty sure he did.
Turning around, I continue walking to the chairs and I slump into my usual one, pulling my sleeves down. He sits in the chair next to me. I want to scream for him to just leave, to go away and to never talk to me again but I physically cannot say that to him. I feel like if I were to say that, I'd die, and that terrifies me.
"Why can't you just... talk to her. Say something." I try but something in me doesn't want him to do that either. I don't want him to talk to her. She always gets what she wants, every single boy she's ever wanted, she gets. All but Jasper. In way, he's like a ray of hope, hope that I too can stand up to her and not give in.
"I am not interested in her." He answers honestly and I want to be mad, but I don't have it in me.
I feel like I'm going to drown.