𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓, jasper hale

𝐎𝐍𝐄

i. NEW BEGINNINGS

☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟAS OPHELIA PULLED INTO THE SCHOOL CAR PARK, she noticed a truck she had never seen before parked in the spot she usually took. Sighing, she found another space and hopped out of the car, sauntering over to the new (well, old — but new to her) truck curiously and seeing its owner still sat in the driver's seat, nose deep in what appeared to be a map of the school.

She knew it was Chief Swan's daughter, and thought it best to introduce herself and make a good impression.

The girl stepped out nervously, startled when she saw Ophelia stood directly outside her car door.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," Ophelia stepped back a little, giving her space, "Just wanted to introduce myself, seeing as you're new and I know how scary it is on your first day... I'm Ophelia Douglas."

"Nice to meet you. I'm, uh, Bella Swan."

"I know," Ophelia smiled, her grin faltering when she realised how weird that sounded, "In a town as small as this, word about newbies gets around easy. You're gonna he stared at a lot, just a warning."

Bella pouted, "Really? I guess being the Chief's daughter probably doesn't help."

"Definitely. Sorry to break it to you," she giggled.

"It's okay." the girl shrugged shyly.

"Anyway, what do you have first? I can show you to your class if you want, save you wandering like a lost puppy?"

"I think— Biology. But that would... uh... that would be nice."

—

Ophelia found Bella's classroom easily, waving her goodbye with a piece of paper with her phone number on it, "Text me at lunch, I'll come and meet you and introduce you to my friends."

Bella nodded awkwardly, grateful for the attentive way Ophelia was ensuring she was comfortable at Forks High School.

With that, Ophelia was on her way to her own first class of the day — History.

She sauntered into the classroom, books in hand, and took her usual seat beside the ever-quiet Jasper Hale. She was curious about him, and always had been.

His eyes always trained away from her as though she was the most repulsive sight, his body shifted as far from her as was possible. She pondered often what it was that made him so desperate to be away from her, but nevertheless she was too nervous to speak to him anyway, so perhaps it was for the best.

Jasper was gorgeous — his entire family were — so to say that even bubbly, outgoing Ophelia was nervous around him would be an understatement.

Her friends teased that he often seemed to stare in her direction during lunch, but she was adamant that this was purely their means of mocking her evident crush on the blonde boy.

She didn't believe that there was any way Jasper, or any of his family for that matter, would spare even a momentary glance towards her without a specific reason.

"Good morning, class," the teacher began, face stern as he turned to the board and pointed to the words "AMERICAN CIVIL WAR" in bold scrawl, "I'm sure you can all tell what today's class will be about."

Ophelia heard Jasper swallow thickly beside her as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She'd exposed the skin of her neck, but was more conscious he could see her face properly now, unaware of the impact of the prior fact.