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Entering the cafeteria, Marlene tucked some hair behind her ear as she hurried to her sister's table. Sighing internally as she heard the group talking from a foot away, she knew that Mike and Eric one had some idea planned.
"Marlie!" Eric cheered, making room between him and Bella. Smiling at him awkwardly, the girl sat her green Jansport backpack behind the uncomfortable bench seat before sitting down. "La Push, baby! You in?"
"I'm sorry?" Marlene asked, raising a brow at him.
"La Push Beach, down on the Quileute rez. We're all going tomorrow. Big swell coming in." Mike smiled at her.
"And I don't just surf the internet." Eric laugh, doing a surfing motion with his upper body.
"Eric, you stood up once." Jessica said flatly. "On a foam board." Eric scoffed, putting a hand on his chest.
"There's whale watching too." Angela added, smiling at the two girls. Marlene quirked her head to side, nodding at Angela's worlds. Whale watching sounded much more appealing to the red-head than attempting to surf. "You two should really come with us."
"La Push, baby!" Eric cheered again, making the Swan sisters roll their eyes in an uncanny unison.
"We'll go if you stop saying that." Bella said, a reluctant sigh in her voice.
"Deal!"
"I'm getting an apple." Bella sighed, standing up. Marlene nodded a bit as he put her earbuds in, deciding that she did not feel like interacting the table.
A few tables down sat Jasper Hale. Poking at the salad he had gotten, he sighed as he watched Marlene Swan put in her earbuds. Over the past days, he has learned more and more about her, whether it be in the hallways or when their supposed to work in class but decide that talking is much more enjoyable.
He knows that her favorite color is red, but hates it when people assume it's because of her hair. She likes music, especially artists that were more popular from the 80's. He knows that the reason she doesn't eat school food is because in 8th grade she swears that she found a tooth in her chili, which when he learned he couldn't help but laugh. He can still see the offended look that Marlene had flashed him when he let out a sarcastic "sure".
His brothers, especially Emmett, tease him for his "school boy crush". And they can continue to tease him all day long about his new infatuation with the bold girl, but he didn't care. Because Marlene Swan would always hold a special place in his heart for all of eternity.
Now he just wished she would hurry up and figure out his little secret, that way he didn't have to lie to her.
***
"You're awfully quiet today." Jasper mused from his seat, looking at Marlene. "Not that I'm complaining. It's more peaceful in here." The girl gave him an annoyed side-eyes, leaning back in her seat.
"Ha ha ha." She scoffed, the usual sarcasm dripping from her voice. "You're so funny, don't quit your day job."
"Wasn't planning on it." He chuckled. "Though seriously, what's up?"
"Bella's making me go to the beach with her friends." The girl deadpanned as she stared at the page of questions the class was supposed to be working on. But to be fair, everyone else was talking. "I would rather sleep in until noon, but no... at least there's whale watching."
"I'll keep you in my prayers then." He shook his head, looking at down at his own paper. Marlene glanced at him, watching him write down the answer to question 3.
That's when the idea of inviting him popped into her head. 'It'll be more bearable with him around.' She reasoned, straightening up in her seat. "You can tag along, you know." She offered, the blonde looking at her again. "If you wanted too, that is. We can watch Mike Newton make a complete fool of himself together."
Jasper smiled a bit, shaking his head fondly. "What beach?"
"La Push." She said with a smile. After she answered his question, his smile dropped, which made her's drop as well. "Is something wrong?"
"No, uh..." he trailed off, putting his hands into a ball on his desk. "This Saturday, you said?"
"Tomorrow, yeah."
"I can't." Jasper shook his head, rolling his shoulders tensely. "I just remembered that I promised Emmett I would go camping with him this weekend."
"Camping?" Marlene scoffed. "I can't imagine you roughing it."
"I'll have you know that I've been camping dozens of times." He shot at her. "I'm not just some prep you know, I was born in Texas."
"Really?"
"Mhmm." Jasper hummed, secretly thankful that they were changing the subject now.
"So you mean to tell me," Marlene began with a smirk on her face, "that you're some sort of cowboy?"
"I'll have you know, that I'm the cowboy." He said, making a point to over annunciate his word. "Born and raised in the heart of Texas herself." Jasper had such a proud look on his face when talking about his home state, and Marlene had to be quick to figure out a teasing comeback before she noticed how lovely he looked.
Which, spoiler alert, she already had.
"Wow, just when I thought you couldn't get any dorkier, but you just keep surprising me." Suppressing a giggle as at his fallen face, she shook her head a bit, some of her ginger locks falling in front of her face. "I'm just kidding with you."
"I know." Jasper hummed, smiling softly at the way she was smiling. He believed that she was the only thing that could make his heart beat anymore. Slowly reaching over, he was careful to tick some of the spray pieces of hair behind her ear. Marlene stared at him as he did this, suddenly loosing all the confidence she had when he was teasing her just a moment ago. "What's wrong Marlene, cat got your tongue all of the sudden?"
"Screw you." She meant to say boldly, but it came out as more of a breathless whisper. Before Jasper could even smirk at her, the bell had rung and the red-head wasted no time in getting out of her history classroom as fast as she could. Because as much as she tried to ignore it, Jasper made her loose her cool. And though she told herself she hated him for it, there was a soft spot in her heart that adored his ability to make her so that.
