Oxytocin

V. Dahlias

"How's your hunt?" Cassie asked, walking with Bella up to the bus. Mr. Molina's class was having a field trip today, to the green house. Which everyone was happy about. Cassie was glad to have a break from all the school work.

"Not good." Bella answered. "The only thing that could be plausible is an adrenaline rush. But there's no way that is what is was."

Cassie sighed in defeat. "You know, maybe its time we put a rest to our investigation. They obviously don't want us to know."

"I just, I want peace of mind. It's been driving me crazy." Bella said, running a hand through her hair.

Cassie nodded in response. "Yeah. Me too." She responded quietly. As they walked, Mike approached them.

"Look! Your moving, your alive!" He said jokingly towards the two, more towards Bella.

"Yeah. False alarm I guess." Bella said, laughing slightly.

Mike nodded, smiling, "Actually, I'm kind of glad your not dead, cause', Well that would suck. Plus I wanted to ask you-even though it's like, a while away-us, if you'd maybe want to go to prom with me?"

Cassie looked at Bella, waiting for a response.

She didn't respond. Cassie followed her gaze, and found that Edward had stolen her attention. Jasper was with him, and her green eyes locked with his golden ones.

"So what do you think?" Mike asked, both girls turning to him.

"What?" Bella asked, clearly not paying any attention. Cassie covered her mouth with her fist to hide her laugh. This conversation was just a train wreck.

"You want to go to prom? With me?" Mike said, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head.

"Prom. As in dance." Bella said, trying to come up with an excuse. "I, uh, I have to go somewhere. To Jacksonville. Yeah."

Cassie looked away from the duo, trying hard not to let her laugh bubble through.

"You can't go another weekend?" Mike asked, his face covered with disappointment.

"Nonrefundable tickets."

"Oh."

"You should ask Jessica." Bella suggested. "I know she wants to go with you."

Mike nodded, then walked away. As soon as he was out of ear shot, Cassie let her laugh out.

"What?" Bella asked.

"That was just a train wreck." Cassie said, Bella beginning to laugh with her.

Mr. Molina called out the students, telling the students it was time to leave. The girls found Jessica and Angela, and found seats next to each other. The ride to the greenhouse was spent with Bella listening to her music, and Cassie engulfed in her book. When the bus stopped, the tour guide was there, waiting for them. Cassie walked along with her classmates, but soon found herself alone, tired of all the noise the boys were causing.

She continued to look at the flowers, and soon found a pot full of flowers. They were different colors, and almost looked like pom-poms.

"Dahlias."

Cassie turned, and saw Jasper next to her.

"What?"

"Dahlias. That's the name of the flower." He explained. Cassie nodded, and continued to look at the flowers.

"I'm sorry." He said, out of no where. "I was out of line at the hospital. But-"

He stopped for a moment. "We can't be friends, Cassandra." Cassie looked at him, keeping her face neutral, but she couldn't help but feel a but hurt. She didn't understand what she had done. Was it because she ran into him that day?

"Oh." Is all she said. "Ok."

Cassie walked away, leaving Jasper alone. He had to convince himself it was the right thing to do. But damn, did it hurt.

*****

A few days pasted, and Cassie hadn't spoken to Jasper. She see's him in English and at lunch, but that was it. It wasn't weird. They never really talked before. She continued to wonder about what Jasper had said.

"We can't be friends, Cassandra." replayed in her head more times than she'd like to admit. Bella, however, was pissed. Each night, she called Cassie, telling her all about he theories, but half way through them, they would realize it wasn't possible.

"He's staring at you again." Bella whispered to Cassie. She knew who she meant, but decide to ignore it, just like she has been the past few days.

"La Push babies. You in?" Erica asked, as soon as the girls sat down.

"Are we suppose to know what that means?" Bella asked.

"La Push beach. Down on the Quileute rez. "Mike explained. "We're going after school. Big swell coming in." Cassie made a face. She could barley stand on a skateboard, much less a surf board.

"But there's whale watching too! You guys should come."

"La Push, baby. Its La Push."

"I'll go if you stop saying it like that." Cassie said, laughing at her friend.

"I'll come too." Bella said. "Sound fun."

The two of them walked over to grab their lunch, Bella went to the salad bar, while Cassie went to grab some water and chips.

As she turned, she nearly right into Jasper.

"You know, you should try and avoid running into people." He teased.

"Funny." Cassie said, sarcastically.

"How are you?" He asked, leaning against the vending machine.

"Are you asking just to be nice, or do you actually care?" Cassie said, "Because last time I checked, we're not friends."

Jasper winced a little. He couldn't help but feel guilty about how he acted towards her.

"Last I checked, I said we shouldn't be friends. Not that I didn't want to be." This made Cassie look up at him in confusion. "I'm no good for you, Cassie."

Cassie gave him a judgmental look. "Ok, stop saying that. This isn't some romance novel were I'm the good girl and your the bad boy."

"All I mean it, my life isn't as perfect as it seems." Jasper warned. "If it best for you to stay away from me."

Cassie rolled her eyes. "No one's life is perfect. Trust me, I know."

"You'll get hurt."

"By who? You?"

Jasper nodded.

"Don't worry. You don't have to worry about hurting me." Cassie said, crossing her arms.

"You don't understand." Jasper said. "I'm not a good guy."

The sound of Cassie laughing filled his ears.

"Ok. Now you really sound like a cheesy bad boy love interest." Cassie said, laughing again. "Look, there's a group of us going to the beach. Would you like to join us?"

Jasper smiled, pretending he wasn't eavesdropping. "Which beach?"

"La Push."

Jasper shook his head.

"What? Do you not like the beach?" Cassie asked.

"I prefer Ruby beach. I'm busy anyway." Jasper explained. "Thanks for the offer."

"Maybe another time then." Cassie offered.

"Maybe." Jasper said, slowly walking away.

"Jasper?"

The blonde turned towards Cassie.

"I like to think there's a bit good in everyone." She said, walking away from him. Jasper couldn't help but smile at this. This girl is either has a heart of gold, or really naïve.