Dangerous - Jasper Hale

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER ONE
Alexandra Taylor was anything but happy. The total of people who were aware of this fact: a big fat zero.

She'd never been one to open up or talk about how she felt - she came from a family that valued integrity and because of it, hadly ever spoke of what bothered them. Shaped by her surroundings, she'd became closed off, and eventually, she enjoyed having it that way. This hadn't always been her way of life – there had been a time where she had someone to open up to about anything. Without him she crumbled, having to rebuild her walls over and over again, until they couldn't be broken. 

Her mind was close to empty as she waited for class to start - she'd never enjoyed history, mostly because anything she didn't exceed in made her lose interest rapidly. Playing with the ends of her red hair she waited for her friend to arrive, as well as the teacher. Only three students had sat down in the classroom, some guy named Kirk who'd never shown any interest whatsoever to talk to her, as well as one of the Cullens, who was sitting two benches in front of her. Alex thought about it, finally concluding that she thought his name was Emmett. She never found the interest that everyone else seemed to share in the Cullens, she just accepted them as they were and thought no more about it – they kept to themselves, and she assumed that was the way they wanted things, and who was she to run around and gossip about them for it.

Soon enough the classroom filled up, Mr. Thompson quickly running in after the sea of students had taken their seats. Alex felt her phone vibrate in the back pocket of her black jeans, and she quickly slid it out and looked at the screen underneath the table. She'd gotten a text message from her best friend Tom, a short explanation of that he was too hungover to even try to go to school. Alex felt irritated but kept it in, quickly realizing that her partner wouldn't show up and that she'd have to do all the work by herself that day. Sighing, she looked up at her gray-haired teacher who was basically screaming out his words, probably because of the stress he'd gone through to get to the lesson in time.

"Hey kids, time to start our new history project today," he called, making all students lean back slightly in their chairs from the outburst. Alex sighed once more; she hated these kinds of projects. "So, this time we'll focus on the U.S civil war," Mr. Thompson's arms were flying all over the place as he tried to sort out his papers while giving a new introduction to the new project. "No doubt an important part of american history. You will work in pairs with your table partners, and you will all get individual things to research about. So, let- hey, where is Tom Larsen?" Mr. Thompson asked Alex, looking her straight in the eye, knowing very well the two were more or less inseparable.

"He called in sick today, but its fine, I'll just get started myself so he can join me when he gets back." Alex said to the old man, who just shook his head.

"Nonsense, you can work together with Mr. Cullen over here since he's partner-less as well," the old man said, pointing to Emmett who curiously turned around to look at her with one eyebrow quirked. Alex briefly locked eyes with the boy that nearly resembled a bear in built, before turning her attention back to the teacher.

"Well, who is Tom going to work with when he gets back then?" Alex tried, and Mr. Thompson looked over his shoulder with a tired expression written on his slightly red face.

"Alexandra, for once – don't argue with me, sit down with Mr. Cullen and get started on the project. I think it would be good for you and Mr. Larsen to work with other people for once, expand a bit."

Alex raised her eyebrows but didn't bother to fight him, so she sighed before slinging her bag over her shoulder and picking up her books. She walked over to Emmett and placed her textbooks on the table next to his before sitting down and crossing her arms over her chest, looking straight ahead and waiting for the older man to give them their assignment.

"I expected more of a greeting than that," the muscular boy spoke from beside her, making her turn her head and look at the attractive man. His short black hair gave you full sight to his defined cheekbones and golden eyes.

"Oh, it speaks! I'm pretty sure I've never heard you talk before," Emmett rolled his eyes at her response, a small smile playing on his pale lips. He'd almost sensed her attitude before she spoke, and he enjoyed it.

"And I've heard far too much of you Alexandra Taylor," he winked, not knowing that calling the female by her full name meant immediate death.

"That's Alex for you, unless you want to die a slow and painful death," the petite girl said while staring at him intently, trying her best to make him uncomfortable. "Now, first one's free, but you better tread carefully from here."

He stayed silent for a couple of seconds just staring at the girl, before he snorted. Soon enough the sounds turned into chuckles, and Alex joined in chuckling at her attempt to come off as frightening, since she was basically the most non-terrifying person in the room.

"This is not going to be too bad after all, or what do you think?" the boy said, looking at the girl who was still snickering a little bit. She shook her head, smiling. That's the moment that Mr. Thompson decided to come over to give them their anticipated assignment. Alex felt joyful that they seemed to be similar; the first impression of a person was detrimental for her, and Emmett seemed like someone she'd like working with.

"Okay, so I want the two of you to research the main reasons for why the civil war broke out. And I don't want some rotten list just naming five or so of them. No!" he said, almost shouting out the last word. "No, I want a well-written text, and you have two weeks to accomplish this. The text should have at least two thousand words. Not more than four thousand though, then you will never get it back with a grade on it, HA!" a hearty laugh left his lips, making Alex jump slightly at the suddenness of the sound. She looked up at the teacher and saw him avoid her gaze, looking slightly embarrassed for scaring the girl.

"You know what I usually say – I don't want a list with all the reasons of the war. I'd like it if you focused on maybe two or three and go a bit more in depth about them, quality over quantity guys!" he called out, getting louder with the final part as he spoke to the entire class. Alex nodded at the teacher. "Reason with it, think of the consequences, pros and cons for the different sides."

He soon left, and Alexandra quickly jotted down some notes so she wouldn't forget the instructions later on. "So, I should probably mention that I'll be out of town partly next week, so we are going to have to finish it this week, today preferably. You mind studying with me at my place later today maybe?" Emmett said, looking expectantly at the red-haired girl in front of him. She shrugged.

"Ew, I'm not going anywhere with you," she spoke, a disgusted expression on her face. Emmett narrowed his eyes and saw her grin, "kidding, obviously. Sounds good," Emmett smiled before holding up his hand waiting for a high five. Alex quickly gave him what he wanted, since leaving someone hanging on a high five is just cruel. Just as their hands carefully slapped together, she could feel a jolt of cold radiating through her body. It was gone as soon as it had gotten there, but the feeling of coldness still lingered in her hand, mixed with the sensation of a really good high five. "Whew. You have bad blood circulation as well, huh?"

"Oh, yeah," Emmett said, grinning. "The worst."

"Same," Alex said, chuckling. She turned towards her textbook, opening in before looking at him while smirking. "Now, let's get this party started."