Now You See Me [Jasper Hale story]

VIII. Friends and Enemies (1/2)

"I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, and my enemies for their good intellects." - Oscar Wilde

***

Throwing all the clothes that were left into the bag on the bed, I grabbed it far too violently. My temper took the best of me - what can I say. On my way through the corridors of the hospital, I came across Angela. She told me she had called me numerous times in last quarter of an hour, however, I hadn't picked it up. And there came the logical question: Why did I not pick my phone?

"A... friend came to pay me a visit. Has the information made you any happier?" I asked, fasting the seatbelt on the passenger's seat.

"Not really," Angela shook her head, turning on the ignition. "It will make me happy, if you tell me, if the friend was a girl or a boy, how old she or he was, and if I know him."

"Hey, that's personal!"

"Sure it is. HIS personal information, not yours," the driver shot me a glare in the rearview mirror.
"Well, is it him then?" I remained silent, which Angela considered to be a yes.
"Ha, I knew it! Gwyneth, you flirt! It's been bare two days since you moved in, and you've already started to date someone? Who is he?!"

"At first, I'm not dating anybody. Second, he came to see if I was all right, because it was him who found me in the car park yesterday." It was good like that. So why the hell did I have to continue talking?! "And third, it was Jasper Hale."

"What?!" Angela slammed on the brakes, stopping the car in the middle of the road. Fortunately, we were somewhere in La Push Nature Reserve by then, where no one else had the urge to drive through. Nevertheless, my head had nearly crushed into the windscreen, with the force of her applying the brakes."Are you kidding me? Jasper freakin' Hale found you?! B-but... he is one of the Cullens!"

"Ugh... so what?!" I lifted one eyebrow impatiently. Angela turned her head sharply, in order to look at me.

"The Cullens are weird! Have you not noticed the strange colour of their eyes, for example?"

"That's probably just some kind of mutation. Half of the population suffers from far stranger anomalities, than golden eyes." I argued, pointing an index finger at myself "Here, there's an exact example sitting next to you. I cannot even come near - for example - roses, without getting as swollen as a hot air balloon."

"Fine, fine," Angela admitted reluctantly, turning the ignition on once again. "Still though, isn't it strange for all of them to have the same eye colour? If they were regular siblings, then I wouldn't have said a word. But that's not what they are, Gwyn. They're all adopted! Coincidence? I Don't think so!"

A sigh escaped my throat, as I rubbed my eyes. It was apparent what she was suggesting, and I tried really hard to talk myself into my not being interested in the Cullen family. It was too late though. I met them all - some of them were better, some of them worse - from the big man (Emmett), through the rude prat (Edward), kind pixie-like girl (Alice), to the blonde cow (the name of who I had happily forgotten), and of course, the handsome Greek god (Jasper). There was also the random girl - her surname was Swan - who seemed to be a girlfriend of the rude brat. To be honest, I found a few discrepancies on what the Cullens were doing their best to make the world believe in.

With every thought of the family, the curiosity in the pit of my brain was slowly clambering up the hill.

"What is this all about, Angela? Are you trying to advise me against becoming friends with them?" She remained silent, watching the road in front of her gloomily. So there, I pushed. "Since I told you Jasper found me, you've been acting as if you knew something I don't. So, is there something I need to know about the Cullens?"

The driver twisted the corners of her lips up, unamused. Then, she rolled her car onto the driveway of Emily's B&B, pulled the handbrake up, and turned the angine off. "Remember the brown-haired girl who was sitting with Cullens at lunch? Her name is Bella Swan. She moved from Arizona a year ago and started getting along well with them. Until then, the Cullens had been rejecting everyone who tried to talk to them, even for the slightest. Especially Edward - the guy Bella started dating. He had been an exact example of an arrogant jerk."

"He still is a jerk, for as much as I can say," I murmured, only to earn a frown from Angela.

"Don't interrupt me," she snapped out. "Anyways, Bella had been pretty punctual, until she started hanging with Cullen. It's a well-known fact, that the Cullens leave school for a few days every now and then, to spend time doing... heavens know what. That wasn't Bella's style though. I mean, she had never missed a class before! In March, however, the Cullens disappeared, but guess what.. Bella went with them!"

I bit the inside of my cheeks, not to hiss at her, how absolutely unimportant Bella Swan's ramblings were to me. Unfortunately, I hadn't gotten an opportunity to leave the car, mainly due to Angela's not having been done talking yet.

"It was a terrible time. Strange things were happening in Forks, people were disappearing, being attacked by some animal, or whatsoever. We were freaking out about where she was. And so was her father."

"W-wait a sec," I blurted out. "Her father's name is Charlie, isn't it?"

"Well, obviously," Angela tilted her head to a side. "Charlie Swan, he's a Sheriff. Lovely man, by the way."

"Oh Gosh..." My right hand lifted to my forehead, as I made a facepalm. Meanwhile, Angela's questioning glance nearly burnt a hole into the side of my face. "I'll explain later. Carry on."

"Alright. We thought the Cullens took her camping with them; yet, when we asked her father, he knew nothing. Two days later, Edward Cullen brought Bella into the hospital, telling Charlie a story about how she fell down from the stairs at their home, and broke her leg. That was a lie, I was at the Cullens' house the day before. It was empty, with no living soul in it," she made a dramatic pause. "And that's it. Whatever business it is they are involved in, it caused Bella a broken bone."

"Wow, that's... interesting," I forced out a modest smile. "Thank you very much for driving me home. And thanks for telling me all those things, Angela. I do appreciate it."

"Wait!" She exclaimed the moment I opened the door to get out of the car. The demanding tone of her voice got me to turn around. "You're not going to keep distance from them, are you?"

I pouted my lips, shrugging slightly. "Nope."

"Then be careful at least!" Angela asked softly, muttering her quiet good night.

The story my schoolmate told me turned my curiosity into a dangerous beast. What was I supposed to do now? Let all the new information rot? No, I wouldn't be able to do that. The family certainly had a few secrets, while I was pretty determined to reveal them all.
As I jumped out of Angela's car, right into the beautiful greatness of local wildlife (realists would have called it a forest), an idea occured in the very hidden corner of my mind.