The rest of the night had played out good for the girl's, they'd over snacked of course, before falling into a deep sleep in the living room only to be woken the next morning by Eliza's alarm that she had forgotten to turn off. After grabbing breakfast Laura had received a text from the group chat she had with some of the La Push boys. Jace had suggested going to the beach since for once Forks had some nice weather, Jacob, Quill, and Embry were down to go but the other's said they were busy. Laura suggested it to Eliza and upon hearing Jace would be there she jumped at the idea, but first Laura made sure it was okay with the guys and of course it was.
Eliza had asked Laura if she had a spare swimsuit which luckily for the girl she did, though Laura let her know she had no intention of going into the water.
"Why not?" Eliza asked with furrowed brows as she caught the swimsuit Laura had thrown to her.
"I don't really like the sea. I mean, I'm okay with it to a certain point, but I hate not being able to touch the bottom... and I don't really wanna wear a swimsuit around the guys" she breathed with a shrug of her shoulders as she closed her dresser.
"We don't have to swim out very deep" Eliza tried to encourage her. "And you have a great body, you should show it off"
Laura smiled at her friend coyly. "Thanks, but I think it's cause I've known them since I was a kid so... it would just feel weird?" she guessed with another shrug as she began to walk out of the room. "Any way you put that on under your clothes, I'm sure one or two of the guys will be swimming too so you won't need me to keep you company in the water" she winked teasingly before closing the door behind her to let Eliza change in her room.
When Eliza was ready the two set off to the beach and met the boys who were already there. Jace and Quill were kicking a soccer ball back and forth while Jacob and Embry were sat on the sand talking.
"Hey knuckleheads" Laura greeted tapping the bottom of her water bottle on Embry's head.
"Ow" he chuckled before both boys greeted the girls. Laura sat down next to Jacob with Eliza sitting on her other side just as Quill and Jace jogged over. Laura introduced Eliza before all of them began to chat. Laura noticed Eliza's eyes watching intently whenever Jace spoke and every once in a while she would nudge her playfully causing Eliza to glare paranoidly at her friend, fearful the boys might catch sight of the nudging.
I was glad to be mixing my new school friend with my old friend group, even if it was mainly because I knew Eliza thought Jace was cute, it was still nice to get that little mix.
"Anyone thinking of going for a swim?" Laura asked after a while, squinting due to the bright sun that was shining over Forks, a rarity.
"Yeah, are you?" Jace asked with a raised brow.
"No I didn't bring a suit, but Eliza did" she was quick to add, looking over her shoulder to her friend smiling smugly.
"Let's go then, gotta make the best of the sunshine" Embry said quickly standing up and taking off his shirt. Quill followed suit with Jace and Eliza sharing a look and shrug before also partially getting unclothed and making their way down the beach in their swimwear.
"So Eliza has a crush on Jace huh?" Jake pipped up causing Laura to chuckle.
"Good, so it's not just me it's that obvious to" she grinned. "I gave her his number last night, she seems like a confident girl but I don't know if she'd be the type to make the first move" she shrugged unsurely.
Jacob nodded understandingly as he rested his arms atop his bent knees. "Oh hey, did you hear Bella Swan is moving to town?" he asked, the thought randomly coming to mind. "You remember her right? She's Charlie, the Chief of Police's daughter"
Laura pursed her lips as she tried to think back. "Not really?" she replied, not currently able to put a face to the name.
"Well, she's moving from Arizona to live with Charlie" Jacob continued.
"Oh, she must be the new girl Eric was talking about. They're thinking of writing a feature in the school paper about her" she grimaced at the thought of such attention.
After another while of chit-chatting between Jacob and Laura the four water-goers returned.
"You look like prunes" Laura giggled playfully as she looked at them.
"You go in the water for as long as we did and try not to get wrinkly" Jace light-heartedly replied.
"I just realised we never brought a towel" Eliza groaned to Laura throwing her head back, upon hearing the words Laura hit her palm against her forehead.
"I have two in my car, you can use one" Jace said gesturing for Eliza to follow him to his car, to which Laura gave a teasing brow raise. Jacob and Laura waited a few minutes to let Eliza and Jace chat by themselves before beginning to make their way off the beach since everyone was just about ready to hit the road. When the girls got into the car to leave Eliza didn't stop talking about Jace and Laura couldn't help but smile. After dropping Eliza off at her house Laura returned home, where she spent the rest of her Saturday and Sunday relaxing and just enjoying the weekend before it eventually ended.
Monday came back around and Laura headed into school, getting there early to avoid any looks from the Cullens. When the Cullens did arrive at school Jasper was quick to notice Laura's car was already parked, though there was no sign of her around. "Emmett told me about your little adventure to town last night" Edward commented as the family made their way into the school.
"Alice of course, seeing the future and playing games" he breathed, before knitting his brows as he looked to Edward. "Did you know she was going to drag me there?"
Edward tilted his head side to side as a grin slowly formed. "I may have caught something about it in her thoughts" he smirked teasingly.
"You don't happen to be in on whatever she's up to do you?" Jasper asked suspiciously, though Edward was quick to shake his head.
"No, Alice is keeping me at arms' length, she's only letting me see what she wants to" he assured his brother.
Laura sat in English alone since she had gotten there early, normally she would meet up with Eric and walk together but decided to just get there ahead of time and chill out. Hearing his familiar voice she looked up to see him entering the class with a new face, making Laura sit up in her chair as he approached with the new girl.
"Bella, right?" she was quick to blurt out. "I know Jacob" she explained. Eric took his seat seeing as he wasn't needed to introduce the pair. "I'm Laura" she smiled.
"Nice to meet you" Bella replied awkwardly as she sat down at her table behind Laura's. "How do you know Jacob?" she asked, allowing her bag to slump from her shoulder and droop to the floor.
Turning so her back faced the whiteboard Laura answered Bella, "My mom's from the reserve. We actually just moved here from Olympia last week, you thankfully took the new girl position from me"
"Did Eric try to write a feature about you too?" Bella asked giving an awkward breathy chuckle as her dark hues fell to look at her table.
"No, he didn't" Laura commented, giving Eric a glare though she was only messing with him.
"You said you didn't want a feature written about you!" he exclaimed, to which Laura laughed and shook her head.
"I'm just pulling your leg, relax" she assured him.
"Ms. Winters, right way 'round please" Their teacher called as he stood at his desk. Laura gave Bella a final smile before turning around to face the board as class began.
The next three classes rolled by quick enough before finally it was lunch. After sorting her books for the classes after lunch Laura strolled into the cafeteria just in time for Tyler to bump into her as he ran passed with Mike following behind. His speed and her surprise caused Laura to stumble back out the doorway but before she could fall to the ground someone had caught and steadied her. Looking over her shoulder she saw Jasper and an embarrassed smile made its way onto her lips. "Thanks" she breathed, to which Jasper gave pained smile and nod before making his way passed her and into the cafeteria. The forced pained smile was due to just how close Laura had been to him, her scent stronger than ever since she'd been so near, and he felt the burning in his throat quickly strengthen though thankfully he was able to hastily move towards his family. Having obviously noticed he'd bumped into someone Tyler stopped running and looked back. "Shit, Laura I'm sorry" he apologised jogging over to her.
"It's fine" she reassured him, waving it off. "Why the hell were you running anyway?"
"He kissed Bella on the cheek and pulled my chair from under me" Mike explained as he strolled over to the two with the chase having stopped.
"You kissed Bella on the cheek?" Laura replied surprised with furrowed brows. "Don't do that, that's weird" she laughed. Tyler didn't try to explain himself or argue that it wasn't weird, instead, he just nodded which she found odd but didn't question.
"Yeah I'm fine thanks for asking" Mike loudly commented, with a wave of his hand. Laura patted him on the shoulder and then finally went to get some food. Tray in hand she walked over to the table where she could see the girls, though as she got there she noticed Bella staring at Edward.
"I'm guessing she got the full run down?" Laura asked as she took her seat alongside the new brunette. "Did you use the word pain to describe Jasper again?" she asked arching a brow at Jessica whose mouth was agape at the question.
"Well it's true" she replied, knowing that it wasn't the nicest of descriptions, though she hadn't been called out on it before.
"Hey I've seen him smile okay, he doesn't always look the way you describe him" Laura laughed lightly before taking a drink of her water.
"Well you're just about one of the only one to see that or even speak to him" Jessica commented lowly as she played with her food.
"I thought you said they keep to themselves?" Bella asked looking at Angela.
"They do" Eliza answered first. "But Laura's managed to get a good few words out of Alice, and Jasper"
"It's not that big a deal" Laura scoffed amused as she shook her head. Jessica, Angela, and Eliza all shared a little look between them since they found it a big deal, though said nothing more.
After lunch Laura headed to Spanish with Tyler before finally it was time for History. Laura couldn't lie to herself that she was looking forward to the class, and it wasn't because she was excited about what they were learning it was because it was the only class she shared with Jasper. Like on Friday Jasper was already there in his seat noticing as Laura's scent grew closer and closer. He was amazed by his control around her, his ability to sit so near to her when she smelt so enticing, at least when there wasn't that strange lingering wolf smell. He instantly noticed when she entered the room, though kept his gaze on his book as if he was completely unaware she was there until she eventually reached the desk. "Hola" she greeted as she sat in her chair. "Thanks again for uh, not letting me fall earlier, that would've been embarrassing" she said, before biting her bottom lip.
"You're welcome" It had been an instinctual move, he happened to be entering the cafeteria and seeing her stumble, took the quick step forward to stabilise Laura without a second thought. He had caught himself off guard in all honesty and the reason he hadn't spoken after it was because he was feeling the burning in his throat.
"Have you met Bella yet?" Laura asked grabbing her book from her bag.
"No, I don't think I share any classes with her" Jasper answered smoothly as he watched Laura from the corner of his eye grab more stuff from her bag. "I believe she's in Edward's Biology class" he added. Jasper also took Biology, but he wasn't in the same class as Edward. "How was the sleepover?" Again Jasper was surprising himself, he wanted to make conversation with her, he enjoyed talking to her, he enjoyed feeling the emotions she radiated, but it was strange and worrying him a little.
"Oh it was really good actually" she smiled pulling her chair more into the desk. "We went to LaPush on Saturday because the weather was so good. Do you go to the beach often?"
"Uh, not really. Not LaPush" he answered swallowing the lump in his throat, that was shifter territory that they weren't permitted on. "My family prefers a different beach so we tend to go there" he lied.
"A beach is a beach" she shrugged, Jasper was glad she didn't question him further on why not LaPush but instead took his words for face value.
Again once the teacher came in the conversation halted until they were making their way out of the classroom together. "What's your favourite historical period?" Laura asked out of nowhere.
Jasper was surprised but smiled at the spontaneous question. "Hm, I'd have to say the Civil War era" he answered, smiling to himself.
"Really? I think mine is renaissance Italy. But that could be because of the art" she nodded as they walked down the hall towards the exit
"You like art?"
"Yeah, it's one of my subjects" Laura grinned. She had always been drawing since she was young, though she was no amazing artist by any means and had the odd thing she was best at drawing as well as having her preferred medium.
"You'll have to show me your work sometime" Jasper smiled as they left the front doors of the school, stopping momentarily at the top of the steps.
"I'm no DiVinci so don't get too excited, but I'm sure I could dust off a few pieces for you" she beamed happily at the thought of getting to show someone her work, especially Jasper wanting to know what he would think of it. Feeling off she glanced to the side to see three of the Cullens staring at her before turning her head back to Jasper with her gaze downcast. "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure" he responded curiously with slightly narrowed eyes at he saw and felt her slight change in demeanour.
"Is it just me or does your family stare at me a lot?" she quickly uttered bringing her gaze back to him, noticing Jasper's eyes slightly widen. He opened his mouth to speak but before he could they were interrupted.
"I'd like to get home sometime today" Rosalie's voice butted in from halfway up the steps, her eyes staring at Jasper, only giving Laura a second of an acknowledgment as she glanced at her.
"See you tomorrow" Jasper said to Laura, before quickly walking down the steps passed Rose who waited for another moment to look at Laura before following behind Jasper.
Biting her lip Laura shook her head before walking down the steps and across the lot to her car feeling frustrated. Alice and Jasper seemed nice but Rosalie always held the meanest looks, and from Laura's view she stared the most, it was like she hated her for some reason despite the two never having said a word to each other and it annoyed her. She wanted to tell them to just stop staring and being weird, but she was way too shy to ever do that. Alice, Emmett, Edward all stared too, even Jasper did at first but he seemed to not do it as much. She wasn't the new girl anymore so why were they still paying attention to her. All these questions were running through her head as she drove away from the school and she was going to try and work up the courage to ask Jasper about it tomorrow in class, away from Rosalie or any of the others.
"You're getting too close to the human, mutt, whatever she is" Rosalie commented as they entered the house.
"Babe c'mon" Emmett breathed as he walked in behind her and Jasper.
"What's wrong with him talking to someone outside the family?" Alice's light voice asked.
"It's risky, that's the problem" Rosalie remarked, scowling at Alice for obviously thinking it wasn't a big deal.
"Risky because she might somehow magically get suspicious or risky because you think I can't control myself?" Jasper questioned his sister as he looked at her almost offended. Rosalie shifted her gaze to him though she didn't answer. Jasper let out a huff as he clasped his hands behind his back. "Or both" he muttered.
"I just think you should distance yourself a little from her or she's going to start thinking you're friends"
"What's wrong with having friends?" Alice again piped up, and again Rosalie shot her a look, but Jasper was quick to try and relieve some of the tension Rose was feeling. "Look, why don't you just take a few days off with Edward?" Alice suggested turning her attention to Jasper.
"Why's Edward taking days off?" Emmett asked from the couch.
"He's having a bit of trouble around the other new girl, I saw him trying to switch classes... but everything's full since I swapped" she said frowning slightly.
"I don't need to take days off, my control is fine" Jasper tried to insist.
"Rose, if he takes the rest of the week off, will you relax a little?" Alice tried to reason, giving her sister a slight smile. Rosalie pursed her lips and exhaled heavily through her nose before rolling her eyes, a signal that meant 'fine'.
"I didn't agre-"
"Great, then it's settled" Alice clapped, cutting over Jasper purposely.
"Just give in man" Emmett called from the couch, flipping aimlessly through a random magazine.