It had to be Jessica

Chapter 9

It was the first day back at school. I was immediately crushed into an embrace the second I stepped out of the car. I couldn't breathe for a second. But only for a second, the grip loosened enough for air to return to me but strong enough that I wouldn't be able to leave without some force, one arm was wrapped around my body and the other hand was holding my head close to them, fingers threaded in my hair.

"You're never going to Italy without me again. You can go to France, China, Australia... anywhere in the world, you can go alone, but if you go back to Italy I'm going with you." The voice that was muffled in my hair was extremely familiar and his words made my heart squeeze and tears to fill my eyes as I hugged him back. He tensed, like he wasn't expecting me to reciprocate.

"That's something we can both agree on." I muffled into his shirt as I tried to contain the wave of emotions filling me. It was suddenly tampered down and I felt calmer. 'Thanks Jasper' I thought silently.

Edward pulled away after what felt like an eternity and gripped my chin gently. He was staring deeply into my eyes and examining my face simultaneously. "You didn't get much sleep last night did you." He stared harder at my face, daring me to lie to him.

"No. I was still freaked about what happened in Italy... I was jumpy the whole plane ride..." I replied, pulling away from him as I rubbed my jaw.

Edward stood silently over me as I avoided eye contact. He shifted a bit before looking over his shoulder. "I want to take you somewhere."

"Huh, what do you mean?" I stared up at him, moving my head so fast my neck actually cracked.

He winced a bit, both at the sound and my question."You know... on a date..." He seemed nervous. It was kind of cute.

"Are you asking me out?" I couldn't stop the teasing tone from escaping with the words.

"Yes or no?" Edward's suddenly serious voice caused me to jolt upright in surprise.

I thought for a moment. I never thought he would ask me out in a million years. "Yeah... Okay. But if I don't enjoy it, you're not my boyfriend and I'm very hard to please." I pointed my finger directly in his face. That last bit was probably the biggest load of bullshit I've ever spewed out of my mouth.

He smiled before nodding. "Of course."

I could only shake my head as I grabbed my bag from the front passenger seat of my car. "Graduation is in a few months." I looked up at him. "Are you ready for it?" I couldn't stop the nervous fiddling I was doing with my backpack strap as I tried to ignore the amount of whispering and staring going around us as people pointed.

"What do you think?" I could tell from his voice that he was smirking but I refused to look at his face.

"I think you're a royal pain in the ass." I said stubbornly, looking down at my purple shoelaces in annoyance.

He let out a low chuckle, it would have been menacing if I didn't know he was laughing at my expense.

I rolled my eyes harder than I ever had before which caused pain to twinge behind my eyes.

"I have to get to class." I tightened my grip on my backpack strap before skirting around him and heading towards my first class of the day. "I'll... see you around."

I felt his eyes on me the whole way until I turned the corner. I couldn't stop the blush from spreading all over my face as I ran the rest of the way to building E, not to mention the smile.

Taking my time, I finally reached my class with 3 minutes to spare. I plopped down in my desk and allowed myself to feel a little embarrassed. "I'm so dumb..." I whined silently to myself.