purple rain | jasper hale

twelve

VALERIE BREATHED DEEPLY AT the sound of the National Anthem playing. Jessica was right next to her and was looking as nervous as she always did on game days; the fear of failing doesn't really go away, never, it doesn't matter if you're very experienced or not. Valerie had been playing for so long but she still felt it in her bones: the fear of failing her entire team, her Coach, her school, and the constant thoughts that maybe she wasn't good enough and that she hadn't trained hard enough.

At least she had them. When fear struck home, she knew where to look for support. The girl glanced at the benches and smiled as she heard Erick, Angela and Mike cheering, however her gaze soon landed on someone else. There they were: Edward, Bella and, most importantly, Jasper. Her three new friends were there cheering her up and cheering for Forks even though they hated these events and never attended. She smiled brightly at them. Forks could be home.

As the Coach called their names and they were on their respective position, Valerie glanced one last time at Jasper. She needed it before the game started.

He was smiling. So was she.

He was also smiling as the game finished with a final whistle. All the girls were yelling and celebrating, hugging the Coach and each other as they cheered to another win. Jessica offered Valerie a piggyback and as soon as she hopped in, the brunette ran with her smaller friend around the gym, celebrating their victory and hyping the crowd. Even though the teachers tried to stop them, every single student of Forks Highschool was soon all over the team, hugging, yelling and throwing the girls into the air. Victory was always sweet.

Edward, Bella and Jasper were obviously keeping their distance as they always did. When Valerie landed on the ground, she could see that they were smiling clearly proud of her.

Jasper's eyes met hers and he took a step forward.

Valerie was all sweaty, yes; her hair was everywhere since her ponytail had eventually come loose, but she didn't care. She ran in Jasper's direction and threw herself into his arms.

As his incredibly cold skin hit her warm and sweaty one, she shivered. She loved him. It wasn't her plan to fall in love in Forks after what happened; hell, it wasn't even her plan to fall in love ever, but there she was wrapped in the arms of a boy she never thought she could even be friends with. Love was a strong word; Valerie knew that Jasper and her weren't even that close for her to be able to love him, but she somehow felt connected to him. She had met him before. Maybe reincarnation did exist.

As her body hit his, Jasper stopped his breathing. He hadn't expected her small arms around his neck and hearing her giggles right in his chest; they could almost make his heart start beating again. His throat burned but he knew it wasn't due to his thirst. He was connected to her, he just didn't know how. He had met her before.

'Congratulations, Val.' He beamed; he didn't even know what had gotten into him before he placed a kiss on her forehead. He had expected to stop feeling things a lot time ago, but he could feel his lips tingling as he touched her skin. She stayed right there in his arms for a while and the purple haired girl decided that this was the feeling of a lifetime. She had just won a game and she was on her favorite person's arms. This was her peak in life.

As Jasper tried to control every single dead cell in his body not to snap and rip a few necks, Bella quickly approached and took Valerie in her arms. The girl let go of Jasper not very willingly and hugged Bella, while being congratulated by the brunette.

'You're coming to the party, right?' Valerie asked while glancing at Jasper and Edward. 'The three of you! Please! It's going to be fun!'

Edward and Jasper shared a look.