Not an Angel Yet

That Friday, I rode with Bella and Edward back to their house; they wanted to surprise Jasper by not telling him I was coming. When we got there, I got out of the car and helped Bella grab my bags out of the trunk. We walked into the house and Bella led me upstairs and into a room where there was a bed. “We picked this up for you.” She told me with a smile. “Thanks.” I said and sat my bag down on the end of the bed. “Get dressed and then come downstairs. Esme is almost done with dinner.” She told me and left the room closing the door behind her.

After changing into something more… formal, I walked downstairs and into the kitchen. Everyone was in there including Jasper. Carlisle walked up to me and hugged me “Hello Haydee.” He said and ended the embrace, walking over to his wife. I peeked out of the corner of my eye in Jasper’s direction only to see him staring at me with a bit of a smile on his face. Edward must have talked to him… Oh, no… Edward probably told him that I liked him. I felt my cheeks turn a scarlet color and I stared at my feet. I heard Edward chuckle and I looked up to glare at him. “Shut up.” I said, but my anger just made him laugh more. I turned around to go into the living room but someone’s hand caught my elbow. I looked to see who it was, and of course, it was Jasper. He smiled at me, “Stay. Please?” He asked. My face turned rosy red again and all I could do was nod.

After I ate, we all migrated into the living room and sat on the couches that they had bought just for this occasion. Jasper, of course, sat right next to me. Emmett decided that we should watch a scary movie, despite my pleas. We ended up watching House On Haunted Hill, which scares the holy hell out of me. I sat there and watched it with them; they were all laughing at all the parts I thought were scary. I couldn’t take it anymore once it got to the part with the giant container of blood; I got up and went upstairs, hoping I wouldn’t throw up. I went into the room where all of my stuff was and laid down on the bed. I was working on getting the images from the movie out of my head when there was a light tap on my door. I sat up, “Come in.” I called softly. The door opened slowly, and Jasper walked in, shutting the door behind him. “Hey.” I said as he came to sit down next to me. He smiled, “Hey.” He replied. I looked at his face, and tried to figure out why I wanted to hurt him in the first place. He was such a sweet, kind person. “Edward told me why you were avoiding me.” He suddenly said. I looked at him, he was looking away from me and then I looked down at my hands. “What all did he say to you?” I asked quietly. “He told me that you thought Alice left because she thought I was cheating on her… He also said something about you wanting me to like you.” He told me, a smile in his voice as he said the last part. “Oh.” Was all I could say. “Alice didn’t leave because she thought I was cheating on her, I know that for a fact… But we did decide that it would be better for us not to be together anymore.” He told me. “Edward mentioned that.” I told him, hoping he wouldn’t mention the part about me wanting him to like me. My stomach turned into knots again. I heart him chuckle. “And, I do like you,’ He said and took my hand, “But I would like to get to know you a little better before we decide on anything major. I don‘t want to screw anything up.” He told me honestly. I nodded, “I understand.” I told him. He smiled and rubbed his thumb over the back of my hand, causing me to blush and my heart to beat harder and faster. “Get some sleep, Haydee. You have a big day ahead of you.” He said and stood up, heading towards the door. He turned around to look at me and smiled, “See you soon.” He promised. After he left, I closed my eyes and went to sleep with a smile on my face.

When I woke up the next morning, I looked at the alarm clock next to me. It was 1:30 PM. I basically jumped out of bed. I grabbed some clothes out of my bag and walked downstairs quietly. When I got into the living room, I saw Esme. I walked over to her. “Esme?” I asked. She turned around and smiled at me, “Yes, Haydee?” She replied. “Um, where’s the bathroom? I need to take a shower.” I asked, kind of embarrassed. She smiled and led me down the hall to a bathroom that was bigger than the whole first floor of my house. “Thanks.” I said to her. She nodded and walked away. Before I got in the shower, I made sure I locked the door, just in case.

After my shower I went outside, trying to find everyone. “They’re setting up for your party.” I heard Jasper say behind me. I turned around and smiled. “Why aren’t you helping?” I asked. He smiled, “I’m supposed to keep you under control, that way you don’t try and stop them. They are making things pretty decorative.” He told me in a teasing voice. I narrowed my eyes at him, “Don’t make me mess up your pretty little face, Mr. Hale.” I playfully threatened. He smiled widely. “Bring it, Ms. Reynolds.” He replied. I smiled back and decided to walk back towards the house, to see what he would do. “I don’t think so.” I heard him say, and then I was picked up and spun around. I started laughing and then he stopped spinning me around and started carrying me towards the yard. “Is this the part where you kill me?” I asked, teasingly. He laughed, “We’ll see.” He said. I suddenly felt a little scared. He set me down on the ground and sat down next to me. “I was only kidding, you know.” He said to me. “I know… Its just still kind of scary in a way…” I told him, not hiding what I was thinking. He nodded, “I’m trying my best not to hurt you,” He said seriously. I looked at him, and he was looking off into the distance, probably at the mountains. “How hard is it for you?” I asked him. A frown appeared on his perfect face, and he looked at me. “You really don’t want to know that.” He whispered. I searched his eyes for any trace of a clue, but I found nothing. “Please tell me?” I asked. “Its harder than anything I’ve ever done. Its even harder not to think about all of the different ways I could kill you though. Every time you move, every time the wind blows, your scent overwhelms me, and it makes it that much harder for me. I just have to remind myself who you are, and that I don’t want to hurt you.” He told me. I smiled a bit, “So I’m a big pain in the butt then?” He chuckled, “You could say that.” He replied mischievously. I gasped and hit him lightly on the arm, only to feel an immense amount of pain in my palm. “Ow!” I shrieked. He laughed a bit and took my hand, looking at it. “Nothing is broken, but we should probably get you some ice.” he said and stood up, and then helped me up.

After Jasper got me ice, Emmett came into the kitchen and told us that Bella would be done in just a few minutes. I looked at the clock, it was 4:27. Jasper and I waited in the kitchen until Bella came in and got us. “We’re ready.” She told me. Jasper and I went with her into the living room area and it was beautiful. There was a cake, small enough for just one person, a stack of presents, it looked like there was one from each person, Music was playing in the background, and everyone had a smile on their face. Bella had me open all of my presents first. She handed me a medium sized box, “This one is from Emmett.” She told me. I ripped the paper off and looked at the box. There was nothing written on it. I looked up at Emmett with question written on my face. He smiled, “It’s a laptop, it’s upstairs in the bedroom.” He told me. I smiled, “Thanks.” I said. Bella handed me a smaller box this time, “This is from Rosalie.” She told me. I opened it and saw a pair of white gold earrings in the shape of wings. I looked up at her with a big smile, “Thank you, Rose.” I said. She smiled back, “I thought they’d be perfect for you.” She replied. The next present was small, and it was from Esme and Carlisle. I opened it and found a key. I looked over at them. “it’s a yellow Mustang GT. Its in the garage.” Carlisle told me with a smile. “Oh my god!” I squealed. Everyone laughed. The next present I opened was from Renesmee and Jacob, it was a hemp necklace with a wolf foot print on it. “Thank you.” I said to them and they smiled in return. The next one was from Bella. I opened it and found several things, there were three sketch pads, one small, perfect for fitting in a purse, one was medium sized, and the other was very large. There was also a huge art set and an easel. “Bella.. How..?” Was all I could say. “Your mother told me you loved to draw and paint.” She told me with a smile. I walked over to her and hugged her tightly. “Thank you so much.” I said, about to cry. She pulled away and handed me another present, a small one, it was from Edward. I opened it and found a box with a picture of a cell phone on it. “Thanks, Edward.” I said to him. “No problem, you’re on our phone plan so don’t even worry about the bill.” He replied with a smile. I nodded. Bella grabbed the last box off of the table. It was a very small one. “This one is from Jasper.” She said softly. I looked up at Jasper who was smiling at me. I carefully unwrapped it and found a ring. It was a silver band that twisted up near a stone, the stone was brownish black. My heart felt like it swelled up and it was going to explode any second. “Tiger’s eye..” I whispered. “It’s supposed to make you feel safe.” He told me and came over to me, taking it out of the box and putting it on my middle finger. His cold hands made me calm down a bit, but his touch made my heart beat much faster. “Its beautiful..” I said softly, and I felt a tear stream down my cheek, but jasper caught it before it could go past my chin. “No crying, beautiful girl. It’s your birthday, only smiles.” He said to me as he grabbed my hand and squeezed it lightly, making me blush. I nodded and smiled. Then I did something that I had only dreamed about, I took a deep breath and slowly wrapped my arms around Jasper’s torso in a tight embrace, sort of afraid of his reaction. “Thank you.” I repeated. He wrapped his arms around me as well, and whispered, “You’re welcome.” This was so much better than it was in my dreams. Jasper had the strongest arms in the world and with him holding me, I felt like nothing could ever hurt me, like nothing would ever go wrong. I could stay here forever. I thought to myself. “Games?” Bella asked, interrupting our embrace, causing my heart to drop. “Yeah.” I said and pulled away from Jasper who smiled at me, and took my hand. I took my chances and got up on my tip toes and kissed him softly on the cheek as a thank you, which not only made me blush but I felt my heart beat race at the sudden contact that my lips had had with his face. He smiled wider than he was before and looked at me, making me feel warmth inside of me.

After eating the cake and playing games for a little bit, I looked at the clock, it was 6:57. It clicked in my mind what was about to happen in two minutes. “No!” I yelled and ran towards the stairs, but I was too slow. I had four vampires around me before I could reach them. “What’s wrong?” Jasper asked, alarmed. “Let me go, you’re not going to want to witness this!” I yelled and tried to get through. They wouldn’t let me by. “Haydee! What are you talking about?” Bella asked and took my hands, holding them tightly. I looked at Edward. You’re about to witness the last step.. I thought. His eyes widened, “Jasper, get out of here!” He yelled, but it was too late, I screamed and fell to the floor in pain. My mother was right, this was the most painful. I couldn’t stop screaming, It felt like my spine was trying to come out of my back. I felt like I was just hit by a bus and then run over by a steamroller. Wait, no I didn’t. This was so much worse. That would feel like floating on clouds compared to this. I could faintly hear Edward and Jasper yelling at each other and Carlisle asking Bella to help him get me upstairs. Medicine would do nothing for me. This would last till twelve oh one. I could feel myself being lifted, just barely. The pain seemed to block out everything. The knife sensation that I normally felt has nothing on this. Falling out a window and landing on a thousand pieces of shattered glass would feel like nothing compared to this. Having third degree burns would feel like a pillow measured up to this. Even Jasper biting me could not add up to the suffering I’m enduring now. I want to die. I thought before I could stop myself. I could hear Carlisle telling Rosalie to take his car to the hospital and to get my mother. My mom wouldn’t know what to do! I wanted to tell them that she would only make this worse by freaking out, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t even talk. “There’s a lot of blood.. Edward, get Jasper out of here.” I heard Carlisle order. “No! I want to stay with her!” Jasper argued. “Jasper, you need to go. You won’t be able to handle it as well as us.” Bella told him softly. “I’ve been practicing, Bella. I’m staying.” He said. I felt someone take my hand and squeeze it tightly. He’s trying to endure this for me. He’s risking not only his sanity, but my life to comfort me. I’ll to thank him for that, even though it was dangerous. He certainly is an amazing creature. I thought to myself through the pain. “Bella, Jasper, roll her over on her stomach.” Carlisle said. As they moved me, I swear my spine snapped. I heard something rip and then I heard a gasp. “Are those…?” I heard Bella whisper. “Her wings are trying to surface..” Jasper said softly, his voice was strained. It was then that I remembered that he could feel every ounce of fear, anxiety, terror, and angst I felt. I tried to stop thinking about how much it hurt for his benefit and I felt him squeeze my hand. He knew what I was doing. “Carlisle, do something. They look like they‘re caught on something.” Edward said. “I’m going to try and pull them out. Watch out.” Carlisle said. I felt his hands on my back, cool and hard. I could feel tugging and then the most pain I had ever felt. I screamed so loud it was probably heard for miles. Then the pain stopped and everything went black.