I Never Meant to Start a War

Despite everything, I still felt that bond with Jasper, and as the days went on, it only became stronger. But the middle of September was when it all changed. It turned the world from something ordinary into something extraordinary.

It all started with a doorbell.

I liked the metaphor that I could associate with it—a doorbell was sudden, surprising, brought you back to reality in the moment where you are caught in space. It was close to the same feeling, everything that would follow. So it was the perfect thing to start off.

The sound echoed in my small house, shaking me awake from my Monday morning lethargy by shrilly interrupting the constant rainfall. I glanced to the clock to see that it was only six thirty in the morning, and I was frowning when I skipped to the door and pulled it open, though the frown soon turned into a smile.

Jasper Hale was standing on my porch, looking somewhat unsure of himself as he stood and waited for me, but I caught sight of it for only a moment before his expression was morphing into a bright smile that could have brought out the sun on this rainy morning. I felt my breath catch as it normally did.

“Good morning,” his voice, perfection, said, nearly lulling me into a dreamless sleep where I stood. I blinked heavily and looked at him, and he smiled in his laughter. “You look tired.”

“I am tired,” I agreed, stifling a yawn. “I didn’t sleep well last night.”

His expression didn’t change, but I didn’t expect it to, so I didn’t notice the slight flash of pain in his eyes. Almost like he already knew that.

I rubbed my eyes and looked at him. “Wait, that’s right, you’re here.”

“I am.”

“Why?”

“I was wondering if I could give you a ride to school,” he told me easily, gesturing toward a black Corvette sitting in my driveway where it wasn’t supposed to be. I blinked again, just to make sure I wasn’t seeing things. I wasn’t.

I realized he was waiting for me to either turn him down or agree after a couple of awkward seconds, and I hoped that he would write off my silence as tiredness. I assumed he did, because when I quickly agreed, all he did was smile at me fondly. The next big step of the day was initiated.

My parents were in the kitchen, sitting and eating, my father with his newspaper tucked underneath of his plate for innovation, and they looked up at me knowingly when I dashed back inside to get my backpack. “It’s a boy, isn’t it?” my father asked gruffly, but with a look that told me that he was just happy to see a skip to my step.

“Not just any boy,” my mother interjected happily, “but probably that one Cullen boy that you’re always swooning over. The Hale.”

“I have not been swooning!” I objected. “You make me sound so materialistic.”

“Crossword.” My father held it out to me as I walked by, our daily routine, and I grabbed it and jammed it into my backpack along with the new English novel. I ignored them on all other counts as they yelled goodbye and that they loved me, and instead answered with shutting the door solidly behind me, my cheeks bright red as I turned to Jasper Hale, the boy I was so sure I was falling for.

He gestured to his car. “Shall we?”

~*~

The Cullen family had always been the talk of the town, so I shouldn’t have been surprised that everyone turned and stared at us when we climbed out of the car, and I could hear the gossiping echoing around us. Jasper was close enough to my side that I heard him sigh, and I looked up to ask him what was wrong. My words stopped in my throat when I saw a pained look on his face.

He saw me looking and smiled sadly, shaking his head as a small smile spread on his lips. He opened the English classroom’s door for me, and I cast him an understanding look before walking through and taking my seat, getting used to the small amount of stares that would only steadily increase.

But I didn’t find out why they were staring until third hour.

A girl settled into a seat next to me that was usually empty, and I looked up to recognize her only vaguely—the only thing I majorly knew about her was that she knew Jessica Stanley. She sent me a smile that looked like it didn’t fit on her usually-scowling face.

“I’m Lauren,” she said, as if I wouldn’t be able to place an identity from this small town lifestyle. “You’re Marie Dunn, right?”

She obviously didn’t pay attention.

“Yes.”

She nodded, and her eyes lit up. “So what is with you and Jasper Hale?”

I had been expecting the question, but there seemed like so much more behind it. So I answered with a question: “What do you mean?”

“Well, I mean, not only do you show up at school in his car, which is totally awesome, but the thing with Bella—haven’t you heard about what happened?”

“No.”

“Oh my gosh! Word had it that the Cullens left!”

“Really?” I asked, but I knew Jasper was still here. So she had to be wrong.

“Yeah! Edward broke it off with Bella last night, and then Bella got lost in the woods or something because they found her there this morning. She kept saying something about how they left, so her dad called the Cullen house. Apparently, they’re all gone other than Jasper Hale!”

I nodded but I didn’t understand what she was saying. She said that the Cullens were gone but they had to still be here, because they wouldn’t leave one of their family behind. And I couldn’t see a reason why Jasper would want to stay behind anyway. So she had to be wrong. This shallow girl who loved to gossip about our small town affairs had talked to the wrong person.

The Cullen family was still there.

So I didn’t answer, just meandered through that class and then showed up to fourth hour Psych with a look of deep concentration on my face. Jasper was already in his seat, waiting for me.

“What’s wrong?” he asked me, looking truly concerned. I might have been pale. I might have looked sick. Because a conclusion was forming in my head that I didn’t know if I could face right now. And when I looked at him, it hit me all over again.

“I’m okay,” I told him. I would talk to him at lunch, after I made a couple of observations.

When we walked into the lunch room side by side, my eyes immediately went to the table and saw what I was half expecting, half not—an empty table. All eyes shifted toward us as Jasper took my hand, leading me toward the empty table, and I didn’t pull away because I don’t think I would have if the table would have been full. I would follow him anywhere he asked me to. And the thought terrified me more than the questions I wanted to ask him.

He pulled me down to sit beside him, still holding my hand, his so cold, and I tried to think that it was from the outside air. I glanced up at him to see him watching me.

“People have been talking, you know,” I told him, and he knew that I wasn’t talking about the bond that makes us holding hands seem like a normal gesture. He shrugged and glanced over at the empty chairs around him, flinching slightly because there wasn’t anyone else but me there. I stared up at him and waited until he looked down at me, which he did.

His loving gaze knocked me breathless, because I saw that he didn’t care that the chairs were empty if mine was occupied.

He made a face before smiling widely down at me. “Well,” he breathed, “let’s give them something to talk about.”

And he bent his face down and kissed me.

I didn’t expect it, but something in my head knew it was coming before I actually did. So when his lips, cold but soft, pressed against mine, I didn’t freeze and accidently reject him. I leaned into the kiss and let him put his arms around me, pulling me as close as our separate chairs would allow.

Even when we pulled away, I felt the magic, the reassurance, this new confidence that had ignited in my core. He smiled at me, and I smiled at him, and we both listened to the new gossip.