edited: 7/9/2020
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FORKS' UNFORTUNATE CLIMATE of never ending cloudiness and rain made for a very disastrous day for Bella Swan. She slipped twice on the ice that had formed on the sidewalk as she found herself knocking on the door of the red house beside her at seven in the morning. She heard a loud thud, an expletive curse in Spanish, and the slam of a door. Bella's eyes widened.
Rory Aden opened the front door with a breathless smile and a toss of her long, thick wavy hair. Her backpack hung from one shoulder and her hoodie was folded over one arm. "Good morning, Bella!" Rory's red lips curved at the slightly startled and confused deer-like expression of her neighbor, who she had begun car-pooling with. "Ready to go?"
Bella's brows furrowed together. "Are you?" she asked genuinely.
Rory simply laughed.
As Bella drove them to school, Rory ruminated upon the last few days thoughtfully. Her first week in Forks was interesting to say the least. Between all the chaos of moving, beginning friendships, and the whole mess of the mysterious Cullen family, Rory was very much surprised by how fast the week passed her.
"It's Friday, Bella," Rory announced as they pulled into the school lot. "I'm planning on heading to Port Angeles for some much needed retail therapy with Jess tomorrow. Wanna come with?"
Bella looked dubious, but she nodded. "Um, sure. Maybe. It'd be a nice change," she said vaguely as she focused on parking alongside the school sidewalk, wanting to avoid the icy lot as much as possible. She was very grateful her dad had put chains on her tires more than ever—just on their ride to school they had passed a car that had skidded into a ditch.
"Change? Bored with Forks already?"
The graphite pencil in her hand made its last lines as she finished the detailed profile of Bella.
Bella shook her head. She was embarrassed by what she was about to admit, but the bond between Rory and her was something she never had the fortune of having before. It was easy to confide in Rory.
"No, it's just- you'll think I'm crazy- but I've been dreaming of Edward Cullen and he just drives me out of my mind—"
They both glanced at the corner of the lot where a silver Volvo was parked in its usual spot. The entire family seemed to have just arrived too. Rory locked eyes with the now back to gold ones of Jasper Hale before quickly averting them. It was a weird habit of theirs; they always locked eyes with each other but pointedly made no effort to speak to each other.
Despite sharing almost every class together, Rory hadn't made any progress with Jasper Hale. In fact, they seemed to regress; Jasper truly hated speaking to her and Rory knew when she wasn't liked. Other people seemed to like her a lot though.
Aside from her first day overconfident blunder when she finished her lunch amongst the flawless beings (even though the Cullen's trays went untouched), Rory and Bella had decided to stick to the table with Jess, Eric, Angela, Mike and their friends. Alice's invitations hadn't relented, but both girls agreed one bout of awkward silences and icy glares was enough for a lifetime. Plus, it was really disarming to try to eat when most of those around you were just staring at you like you were a science experiment.
It was easier that way.
"Nice dreams, Bella?" Rory waggled her brows as she jumped out the truck onto the icy gravel.
From the other side, Bella rolled her eyes and shook her head, waiting for Rory on the safety of the sidewalk where the driver's side was. The girl in question had shut the door, but struggled to shove her sketchbook back into her messy backpack full of textbooks and assignments. It was kind of a struggle.
Bella sighed, crossing her arms. "Uh. Nightmares. I'm just tired of being confused by Ed—"
The unexpectedly loud screech of rubber sliding on black ice interrupted their conversation. On opposite sides of the truck, Rory and Bella looked up to the source of the cacophonous sound, not fully registering what was happening as Tyler Crowley's van was obviously sliding uncontrollably across the parking lot in their direction.
One moment, Rory was listening to Bella's complaints about Edward Cullen and the next moment, a high-pitched screech and a never ending honk that was hauntingly familiar was all Rory could hear.
"—RORY, WATC—"
It all seemed to go quickly.
The calamitous screech of rubber and terrified shouts were all she could process. She couldn't move. She couldn't think. Rory was immediately thrown into the past as the sound of the tire sliding uncontrollably and screams echoed around her.
Police sirens.
Her mother crying.
Rory's bloodied hands.
Her eyes shut tightly as she braced herself for impact.
She inhaled sharply.
Hello, Lu.
A force hit her—not from the direction she was expecting—and she was paralyzed.
Five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
When the ringing in her ears faded and Rory was physically knocked out of her episode and onto the icy black pavement, (which of course had to happen at the worst possible moment) three things passed through her fragmented mind.
First, Rory thought she had been crushed to death by the black van driven by one of their classmates.
Two, she realized she wasn't actually dead and was technically unscathed.
And three, Rory was surrounded by what felt like marble.
No, not marble.
Rory sluggishly lifted her head from his chest where he had folded her into a protective crouch with one hand gripping the small of her back. They were entangled in just a small enough space that kept either of them from being pancaked between the two heavy-duty vehicles. How? Her gaze went to the marble white hand that left a crater sized dent on the side of Tyler's black van. It had to be pushing the van away. But as soon as she saw it, his hand disappeared as if it was never there.
Rory gaped at her savior.
He seemed just as surprised as she was to find him there. His honey blond waves and dark, stormy expression was unmistakable.
Jasper Hale.
"What the fuck—"
Jasper dropped his hand from her waist as he kept his hard gaze on her. His expression was stony but Rory could see worry in his eyes.
"You're alive." Amazement filled his voice, disbelief almost.
Same.
"How the fuck did you get here so fast?" Rory breathed out, her hands braced on the pavement, keeping her from falling over.
"I was standing right next to you, Rory," Jasper said in a convincing tone.
Rory shook her head, knowing that was an outright lie.
"You hit your head," he clarified in a harsh, insistent tone, face hardening.
Yeah, on your chest, Rory thought sourly.
His hand reached down to her the left side of her forehead, it's cool temperature soothing the suddenly throbbing bump.
"Ow," she bit her bottom lip as the pain hit her. Even if she hadn't been squashed like a bug, she still felt like she had been hit by a train. Her entire body would be covered in bruises, she knew.
Jasper sounded smug, "I told you."
"RORY!" Bella had been pulled back from the sidewalk by other nearby students, but as soon as she could break away, she was the first to arrive around the clear end of the collision.
Half in tears, she stared at them in absolute relief and utter shock that Rory was unharmed as well as Jasper Hale. When the hell did he get here?
Bella crouched beside Rory with a worried expression. "Are you okay?!"
"I-I think," Rory tried to stand, but her knees were weak with shock.
"Don't move, Rory," Jasper muttered, his hand keeping her put as he slowly stood, completely unfazed by what had just happened.
Another trauma to add to the pile.
Just then, the loud screams and shouts had begun and within seconds, what seemed like the entire school body had formed a sea of panic around the scene.
"Oh my god!"
"Someone get Tyler out of the van!"
""I'm so sorry, Rory," Tyler said, deliriously rolling his car window down. A line of blood dripped down his brow. Jasper froze. "I panicked and lost control—"
"I have 911 on the line!"
"I can't believe—!"
It was as though none of the students knew how to act during an accident. Shrieking and crying and chaos filled the parking lot of traumatized teenagers. Jasper surveyed the crowd carefully and within seconds, the calamity had calmed down phenomenally. It was odd, the way he concentrated upon the panicked students, and they miraculously were no longer screaming or crying hysterically.
Rory frowned, but winced as a headache sprung. She surrendered to Bella and other people's support, focusing on breathing while they waited for the authorities to arrive. Given it was a small town, it was a speedy arrival.
It took nearly ten people to move Tyler's decimated van enough for the EMTs to bring in the stretcher for Rory and Tyler.
Despite the pain of her head, she couldn't stop thinking about Jasper Hale as countless spoke to her. Somehow, he was able to slip away into the crowd and no one argued against it. In fact, besides Bella and Rory, no one really noticed Jasper Hale—more so their attention was with the new girls and Tyler.
As she was loaded onto the ambulance, Rory spotted the eerie stares of the entire Cullen clan who still stood by their car, half a lot away. Really, the only people who didn't pool around the scene of the accident. She and Bella saw with their own eyes the entire family across the parking lot before the crash; somehow Jasper Hale got to her in milliseconds—Bella couldn't even get to her in time.
Their expressions ranged from anger to disbelief. Rory detected not a hint of worry, not even for their adopted brother who was nowhere to be found. Edward and Alice looked the least furious—the former kept his gaze trained on Bella as if he wanted to check on her himself.
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"Aurora Elena Reyes Aden!"
The seventeen year old winced at the sound of her mother's voice. The nurse attending Rory looked concerned, but she just mouthed 'my mother'. The nurse nodded understandingly and scribbled something else on her chart.
"Hi, mama," Rory said quietly.
Bella stood Rory's bed in support. Rory had refused to get into the ambulance without Bella. She would've rather just been driven to the hospital by someone else. Ambulances only made her anxiety worse, given the last time she was in one. Plus, Bella was the only other person who had seen Jasper and what he had done. She didn't dare mention Jasper's impossible actions to anybody, she wasn't quite sure what even happened.
Dr. Stella Aden was both very worried and angry. She had told her daughter to be careful. She was angry that she almost lost the last person she had. She had panicked when she was alerted that her daughter was involved in a car accident. Stella's mind immediately went to the dark place and barely resurfaced when she was told that Rory was unharmed. Having to wait in her own workplace had been absolute hell as her daughter had been rushed into the emergency room.
"Don't you 'hi, mama' me—"
"Bells!" The doors swung open again and a man with an impressive mustache and a police uniform jogged in, making a beeline to the girls. Bella's dad, Charlie, had arrived.
"Hey, dad," she waved once.
Her father looked absolutely flabbergasted that she was just sitting there, no problem, beside their new neighbors. He hadn't heard the full story, only being told Bella had been involved and unharmed. He had to see for himself, of course.
The curtain dividing the bed next to Rory moved. Tyler's patched-up head peaked out, "I'm so sorry, Rory. I swear I tried to stop. And I'm sorry about your car, Bella."
"It's okay, Tyler," Bella reassured him.
Rory smiled at him encouragingly.
His medical team was trying to get him to remain behind the curtain as they finished treating him. His parents were quietly talking to the doctor.
"It sure as hell is not okay," Charlie cut in gruffly. He had pulled Tyler over enough times for speeding in the last year. This was a serious matter that got too close to facing serious repercussions.
Stella glared at the boy. "You are the one who—" Stella remembered she was an employee of the hospital and let out a loud exhale, wanting to get the full story of the accident. "What happened?"
Rory shook her head. "The roads are icy. It's not his fault—" she tried to explain.
Stella turned to Rory sharply. A devastated expression crossed her face. "I nearly lost you," her voice cracked.
Both Aden women's minds went to the same place. Their stubborn expressions had softened. Bella and Charlie exchanged sympathetic looks.
Rory grabbed her mom's hand, feeling better with her mother's touch, even her headache eased. "But you didn't."
Tyler's head popped out from the curtain once more, his face plastered with guilt (and a few butterfly bandages as well). "I really am sorry—"
Charlie glared at Tyler. "You can kiss your license goodbye." He pulled the curtain shut between them.
"Why? It wasn't Tyler's fault. It was the ice," Rory defended her classmate vehemently, fed up with how the adults were taking the situation out of proportion. "Leave it alone now, please. Just be happy we're all alive. There are too many who can't say the same."
Her harshness silenced the room, especially Stella who had to wipe away some shed tears.
"Heard our new surgeon's daughter was in," a new voice broke the tension.
The entire room's attention swerved to the gorgeous doctor who had just entered the emergency room. A tall, pale golden haired man stopped in front of Rory's cot.
The doctor recognized Bella and Charlie. "And the Chief's daughter, too?" he noticed her sitting on the bed beside Rory.
"Oh, no," Bella clarified, hopping off the cot awkwardly, "I'm fine, it's just I wanted to stay with Rory, for support and all. I mean, my truck was the one hit, but I was on the other side and Rory—"
The doctor smiled at her with an alarmingly charming smile.
Immediately, Rory drew the similarities to another blond male. Same porcelain smooth skin and bright gold eyes. Rory and Bella exchanged matching conspiratorial looks. The connection was cemented by the next words from her mother.
"Dr. Cullen," Stella acknowledged the pale blond man. "This is my daughter, Aurora. It would've been nice to introduce her to my colleagues in a different circumstance." She narrowed her eyes at her daughter.
"It's Rory," she interrupted and eyed Dr. Cullen, "and as you all can see, I am perfectly fine. Tyler's van missed me by inches."
Rory realized she probably should've amended her last statement as her mother's eyes became the size of golf balls. "Inches?!"
"Dr. Aden," Dr. Cullen patted Rory's mother's arm comfortingly, but more so for his colleague to take a step back so he could check out his patient. He pulled out a tiny flashlight from his lab coat and turned to Rory, "Rory, can I have a look? I got this, Jackie."
Jackie, the nurse trying to attend to Rory, handed the doctor her chart and left Rory with a nod. Obviously the girl had a lot of people in her area. Dr. Cullen flipped through the chart of x-rays and paperwork before moving to do a physical check.
Stella nervously watched as Dr. Cullen prodded Rory's head with careful experience. She followed his routine with her own, scrutinizing every detail of her daughter for any other sign of harm.
"Quite a nasty spill," Dr. Cullen said as he moved a flash light from eye to eye. "Your x-rays show indication of a minor concussion, nothing serious, but I expected worse when I heard about the accident."
"Yeah, guess I'm just lucky," she muttered darkly.
Bella glanced at Dr. Cullen and back to Rory, expecting the girl to mention why she was lucky but Rory said nothing else. Bella was curious though. "It would have been a lot worse if Jasper hadn't knocked her out of the way."
Rory glared at Bella sharply. She had intentionally not mentioned the whole Jasper thing to anyone because she had yet to wrap her head around exactly what happened and didn't want to sound crazy—especially to her mother, the Cullen patriarch, and the Chief of Police.
"Jasper?" Stella raised a brow.
Charlie saw the connection. "Your boy?"
Dr. Cullen quickly looked back at the chart, averting his eyes from their curious stares.
Rory raised her brow at this action and even Bella sensed he knew something. She pressed on further, determined to figure out the mystery of Edward Cullen and his family, despite Rory pinching her side.
"It was amazing he got to her so fast. I could barely warn Rory to get out of the way and he as there, knocking her down to safety. He was nowhere near us, right, Rory." Bella's hard stare left Rory no choice but to give in.
Rory sighed deeply. "Yeah, count me lucky."
Dr. Cullen smiled at the girls brightly. "As long as everyone ended up alright." He signed her charts wordlessly.
A few hours later, with a list of prescriptions and an ice pack, Rory was officially cleared to go home with a minor concussion and bad bruising. Bella and Charlie were long gone by Rory's insistence. She didn't want to inconvenience their family even more than the messed up truck. Besides, her mom had been given time off.
"Listen, mija," Stella said as she walked Rory down the reception hall. "I have to go check on a couple of patients before we go home real quick, but so please wait in the cafeteria for me. They have excellent orange juice. I'll text you." The mother and daughter pair hugged one last time before Stella had to go, leaving Rory alone.
She began wandering down a corridor before she heard the sounds of an argument. Rory slowed her steps as she peeked down the end of the otherwise empty hallway where five familiar figures stood in a tight cluster.
"—what were you thinking? That's right, you weren't! Fifteen kids witnessed—now we're all in jeopardy—"
Obviously pissed, Rosalie Hale was tearing into her apparent twin who seemed just as annoyed as he glared back at her.
Dr. Cullen, Alice, and Edward appeared to play the intermediaries between the Hale twins.
Jasper narrowed his eyes. "What? Was I just supposed to let her die—"
"This isn't just about you and your feelings," Rosalie sneered coldly, "it's about all of us—"
Jasper, towering over the group, stared down Rosalie until her furious expression suddenly flipped.
In an instant, her glare dropped and had settled into a much more tolerable discontent. Her mood erratically changed, but her lecture was not over. In a calmer tone, she reprimanded him, "You will fix this, Jasper, or I'll ki—"
Without warning, Edward held his hand up, stopping Rosalie's next words. He discreetly tilted his head toward Rory and all five looked straight at her.
Rory waved with a hesitant smile.
Dr. Cullen spoke to his adopted children in a low voice, "Let's take this in my office."
Rory started a determined path down the hall, prepared to force Jasper Hale into giving her some answers by all means necessary, even if she had to shout at him in front of his family.
There was no need to though, as Jasper remained in place while his family members left him, ushering themselves down the hall and into Dr. Cullen's office.
Rory didn't miss Rosalie's nasty look directed at her either.
Jasper leaned against the hallway wall as Rory's boots clicked down the linoleum floor, staring her down the whole way through. His body tensed even more as Rory approached.
"What do you want?" His tone was clipped and dismissive, but Rory wasn't deterred by it.
"Can I talk to you for a moment?" Her voice was curt and dry. She didn't wait for his response, her hazel eyes bearing into his. "How did you get over to me so fast?" She craned her neck up as she searched his face for the truth.
"I was standing right next to you, Rory," Jasper repeated, looking down at her as if she was stupid with a patronizing expression.
He was really starting to piss her off. "I'm not an idiot, Hale." Rory rolled her eyes. "Don't try to feed me that bullshit. You were next to your family, across the lot."
Jasper's nonchalant expression turned hard. "No." He stepped closer and lowered his voice into a smooth baritone. "I wasn't," Jasper stated firmly. He was trying his hardest to manipulate her emotions, but like before, Rory's emotions were an uncontrollable inferno. No one could control her.
"Yes." Rory stepped closer until her breath brushed Jasper's face. "You were."
"You hit your head." His hand went to brush over the sore area, but he stopped himself from touching her head just in time. Leaving them in quite an uncomfortable predicament.
The tension was unbearably thick.
"My head is fine," Rory glared at him heatedly, "What isn't fine is that you're refusing to explain to me what the fuck happened and I know there is a sane, reasonable explanation."
His lips twitched into a sneer. "You have quite the mouth, Miss Aden." Rory didn't miss his cold gaze flicker to her full lips.
"Don't try to change the subject," Rory scoffed, fire flickering in her eyes. "I know what I saw, Hale. You pushed Tyler's van away. I should have been crushed. I should have died. Except, I didn't. Because of you."
His expression turned murderous at her casual reference to her near-death experience. "No one will believe you."
"I wasn't going to tell anyone," Rory said as though it was obvious. She made a mental note to speak with Bella later.
Jasper stared at her long and hard, deciding if she was being honest or not. His eyes searched her whole face. "Then why does it matter?"
Rory countered his question with her own. "Why do I matter enough for you to save me?"
He was stumped by Rory's question. Jasper sounded torn between a dark anger that frightened Rory and a certain degree of vulnerability that surprised her. His perfectly shaped lips twitched downwards. "I don't know."
Rory let out a frustrated breath. "Of course you don't."
He stared into her expressive brown eyes flicked with green and gold specks. "You aren't going to let this go."
"I just want to know the truth."
He let out a morose laugh. "I hope you enjoy disappointment."
Jasper exhaled roughly, before pushing himself off the wall and away from the intoxicating enigma called Rory Aden. He swiftly walked away from her, eager to be out of her sight so he could run home without any of the others stopping him to interrogate or lecture him further. A million emotions Jasper's never had to deal with of his own distracted him. Being around Rory Aden made him lose his control over his own emotions—he couldn't control hers and now his neither.
"—Thank you!"
Jasper paused. He was halfway down the hall already. He turned to look at her. Her face was open for once; unmasked by the facade she kept at school that intimidated everyone.
Rory was thrown off by his looks. Sometimes she was able to somewhat ignore them, other times, like that moment, she couldn't. Jasper Hale was too beautiful for his own good. It was dangerous.
She had to clear her suddenly dry throat. "Thank you for saving my life."
His expression turned flat and somewhat resentful.
"You shouldn't."
That hauntingly beautiful look on his face, like a dark angel struck her deeply. It was all she could see when she closed her eyes. That was the first painting Rory did of Jasper Hale. That tumultuous expression of raw conflict. Misplaced anger.
It was probably her best work in all honesty and it was done from memory. Something about him had crawled into her mind and refused to leave. He was like a parasite, driving her insane by the irritating mystery shrouding his very existence. Rory was embarrassed she finished the piece and hid it underneath her bed the moment she finished.
Wow. I've really out-creeped myself out on that one.
Later, Bella stopped by with Chinese take-out and too many theories on her mind. Rory was very full and contently chilling on her bed as the introverted brunette awkwardly stood in the middle of the bedroom. She was determined, much like how Rory was when she confronted Jasper earlier that day.
Bella Swan had been keeping her suspicions to herself, but now, there was someone else who would understand.
"So, is there a reason you're just standing there or should I just start throwing wild guesses?" Rory drawled, where she was sitting criss-crossed on top of her bed, her laptop singeing her thighs. She was definitely not supposed to be given her minor concussion, but she had two more seasons to finish watching and had been bored until Bella came over.
Bella sighed, biting her lip as she dove into her suspicions. "Remember when I was talking about Edward Cullen and how confusing he is? Right before the accident?"
Rory arched a brow. "Well, I almost died so any thoughts of Eddie might have slipped from my mind."
"That's the thing," Bella's voice reminded Rory of those conspiracists on Youtube. "You didn't die. Why?"
"Geez, Bella. I thought we were friends," Rory shook her head. "Sorry I survived."
Bella rolled her eyes at Rory's sardonic tone. "What I meant, Rory, is that we both know why Tyler's van didn't crush you like it was supposed to. The ice was making the van slide side first directly onto the side of my poor truck."
"Yeah, sorry about your baby, had to live somehow."
"Rory, can you please listen to me?" Bella begged. "Jasper Hale stopped the van with his bare hands. He left a dent. Pushed a thousand pound van away from you like it was nothing. And he's completely fine. That's impossible."
"I read somewhere that some mother lifted a car off her kid once," Rory offered but Bella stared her down. They both saw what happened. Rory didn't even know why she was trying to make excuses for the craziness of the situation.
"The Cullen's are hiding something—something huge," Bella said, her voice dropping into a whisper as if Edward himself was hiding in the shadows. "And I have to figure it out. We both do."
Rory exhaled in defeat. "Okay, Bella. If we're going to discuss this, then I need you to promise me that this doesn't leave this room." Otherwise people would think they were crazy and obsessive—which wouldn't be far from the truth, but a psych ward wouldn't exactly be fun, and no way was she going ever again, especially for a white man.
"What if we do research in the library, huh?"
Rory pinched her nose. "Okay, fine. Only between me and you. Because no one will believe us otherwise. And I'm pretty sure Jasper Hale might just kill me."
Her friend's jaw dropped. "Kill you? He just saved your life today!"
"Maybe he wanted to finish the job himself," Rory countered dramatically and half-seriously. "You don't see the way he looks at me, Bella. Like I'm ruining his life or I killed his cat. He straight up told me I shouldn't thank him for saving my life. Like it was an inconvenience to him."
Bella sighed, understanding the feeling all too well. "Edward told me we shouldn't be friends. My first day here, he tried to switch out of our bio class after I sat beside him. And the entire class period, he acted like I smelled terrible or something," she frowned deeply.
"Ouch."
Maybe they were germaphobes.
"Something about the Cullens..." Bella bit her lip and darted her eyes to Rory's silver laptop. "It's strange. To some degree, they have really great senses. They all have same pale, perfectly smooth skin—"
Rory squinted at the girl. "—You're super pale, Bella. Maybe you're like them," she said cheekily.
Bella rolled her eyes and continued. "—all of their eyes that change from a rich golden hue to the deepest coal black and they're all impossibly flawless."
"Lucky genetics."
"They're not related," Bella deadpanned.
"True," Rory hummed. Her fingers began clicking away, typing Bella's astute observations. She let out a gasp and Bella stared at her in surprise. Rory slowly met Bella's anticipating gaze. "It says they...probably have jaundice."
"Rory!"
"Is anemia off the list?"
Bella stared her down.
"Fine, fine," Rory seriously scanned the search results. "Strong...fast..." she edited her search. Bella plopped herself beside the other brunette as they searched the different leads and possible answers.
It was nearing three hours of reading through weird web results and various possible medical maladies before Rory slammed the laptop shut. Bella jumped out of her zoned out state.
"Nada. There's nothing," Rory groaned, rubbing her reddened eyes. "We're never going to figure it out."
"We're missing something," Bella insisted. "We both want answers and we'll get them."
Rory patted Bella's head affectionately as she placed her laptop back on her desk. "Like Jasper said, we're gonna have to live with being disappointed," she mocked his dour voice.
At this, Bella raised a brow. "What is it with you and him, anyways?"
Rory's eyes involuntarily shot to where the painting of the blond was somewhat hidden underneath her bed. Bella didn't miss the movement. She narrowed her eyes.
"Uh, what about you and Edward," Rory shot back. "You two have been orbiting around each other since you got here according to Jess."
She turned bright red. "Don't change the subject!"
Rory rolled her eyes. "Mutual...dislike, but also a bit of respect I think. He did save my life, even if his reasons are anything less than confusing."
"No..." Bella smirked and faster than a blink of an eye, she reached underneath the bed and pulled out the canvas. It was Rory's turn to go crimson while Bella's eyes widened. "You like him." Bella was impressed by how well Rory captured the blond Hale. She knew Rory was good, but not that good.
Rory scoffed and snatched the canvas away from Bella's fingers carefully. "I don't like Jasper Hale. I don't know him. I'm just..."
"—curious." Bella shared a look of understanding with Rory. "They're an attractive bunch aren't they?"
"Damn straight." Rory snorted. "They're downright inhuman."
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A.N sorry if it seems like it went a bit fast but the car crash is a v important plot device to push the relationships of the characters together. promise next few chap will b a bit slower—jasper and rory are not gonna start dating as fast as edward and bella.