purple rain | jasper hale

twenty five

Valerie and Bella had so much fun.

They had so much fun that it was currently 7:30am and they were pulling up with Jasper and Edward to the school's parking lot, their tents still lazily packed on the back of the car and the same clothes they wore on the day after. Both of their phones were drained, their batteries dead for almost an entire day. They were supposed to be back on the day before, but they decided that Forks would still be there one day later and they were on the road on the next morning, ready to attend school a few hours later. Both teens were riding on adrenaline and coffee, and also on their happiness of such a great weekend. As soon as Valerie stepped out of the car, people were whispering. The girl looked at Jasper, her eyebrows raised and trying to fix her hair.

'Fuck, does my hair look that shitty?'

But Jasper wasn't paying any attention to her. He was looking at Edward, his eyebrows raised.

Suddenly, Angela was hugging Valerie.

'Leave. Please. It's not worth it.' Her friend whispered in her ear, a tight embrace holding her by both her shoulders. 'It's okay. But please, just go.'

Valerie tried to detangle herself from Angela's arms, tried to understand what was going on and why the fuck was everybody whispering when Jasper grabbed her by the elbow and started dragging her to the car without a word. His jaw was tight and his body was tense, even colder than usual.

'Hey, let me go Jasper!' She growled as she trashed around him but obviously not being able to escape his grip. 'What the fuck is going on?'

'Val,' Bella started, her voice sweet as honey. Valerie almost couldn't hear her with all the whispering next to her coming from the other students, and coming from the voices in her head telling her to just leave. 'It's really not worth it. Just go with Jasper, I'll handle this.'

But she didn't want to leave – she had the right to know what was happening. 'No!' She tried to look at Jasper but his gaze was impenetrable, his fingers wrapped in her arm and his eyes lost on the crowd. 'Jaz? What's going on?! Can somebody please explain what's going on?'

'She deserves to know.' Suddenly Jessica was next to her, her arm placed on her shoulder. She was looking at Jasper, though, and Valerie never thought the brunette would have the guts to stand up to him. 'Valerie, why did you move to Forks?'

She raised her eyebrow.

'What? Why? What are you talking about?'

'Jessica...' Jasper growled as a warning, but Jessica didn't stop.

'Why did you run away from Arizona, Valerie?'

Valerie swallowed.

'Wh- What are you even talk about, I don't know!'

'Val, it's not worth it.' Mike sighed, and only then the girl realized he was there too. 'We know. Everybody knows.'

'Kn-knows what?'

Valerie knew. Deep down, she knew the answer to that question, but she still asked it. Angela was the one to break the news, doing so in a small, scared voice, holding both her hands against her chest.

'Mary. The-the homicide. The mental hospital. I'm-I'm sorry.'

Valerie's world stopped.

'How?'

That was her only question.

Her answer took the shape of a girl leaning against Jasper's car.

'You...' Valerie growled, as her hands started shaking. 'You fucking bitch.'