Chapter Four
Love is Confusing
Jasper

I paced my room frantically trying to calm down, for gods sake I'm empath, my power is to literally change people's emotions yet here I am so nervous I feel like I might explode.

Not being able to take it anymore, I marched down the hall to Edward and Alice's room.

Taking a deep breath, hoping that I wasn't interrupting their arguing or anything, I knocked on the door.

"Alice? Can I talk to you for a minuet?" I asked.

"I'll be out in a minuet!" She responded, sounding like her normal happy self.

Have she and Edward really made up that fast?

I shook my head and went back to my room, taking a seat on my sofa, and waited for Alice to come dancing into the room.

Soon enough, Alice came twirling and bouncing into the room. Her normal walk has always reminded me of a dance, even when she was human she had the same graceful walk. She smiled happily at me from the doorway, no tension or hurt ever even hinting at her expression or emotions.

"Yes Jasper?" She chirped.

"I need help Alice." I admitted and she shut the door and took a seat beside me on the sofa. "I need you to tell me what to do, I need to know the best decision." I sighed.

"Bella is your mate. You will be so happy and so perfect together. It will be hard, nothing comes very easily, but you won't have to go through this alone. You have plenty of people to talk to and give you advice." Alice smiled reassuringly, believing what she was saying completely.

"Like who?" I asked.

"Well, I'm pretty sure Edward can understand what you're going through." Alice giggled. "I mean come on, his human was a crazy future seeing girl less than half his height with serious mental issues." She laughed.

"Alice, you weren't crazy." I snapped. "You've never been crazy or had mental issues." I spoke softer, feeling bad for hurting her feelings by being so harsh.

"Okay, whatever you say." She huffed and picked up where she left off. "You can always talk to me, I can let you know where your path is leading you. I'm sure Carlisle has some advice for you too, as he practically studies Edward and I." She giggled. "But most importantly, you need to trust yourself. Trust your judgment and your own decisions. Bella will love you and you will love her, just hold onto that." She smiled up at me.

"It's meant to be." I nodded, feeling better.

"Hey, that's my thing, find your own expression of love." She snapped playfully and started giggling.

"Thank you Alice, I feel better now. You always know exactly what to say." I laughed with her.

"I'm glad I could help." She smiled and stood up.

"Alice," I caught her hand before she could leave. "I'm really sorry about what I said earlier." I apologized, my guilt about to eat me alive.

"It's alright Jasper." She smiled, a pang of hurt flashing through her emotions.

"No, it's not. I stepped way out of line. I respect Edward and care far too much for you to be as rude and condemning as I was. Yes, I meant what I said about you two being chaotic but I didn't mean it as a bad thing."

"What did you mean?" She tilted her head in question.

"You and Edward have a completely foreign type of relationship. You know exactly what he's thinking all the time, and even though your thoughts are fuzzy to him, he still understands everything about you. Your relationship is deeply emotional, I'd even call it spiritual, and I think it's a beautiful thing. To be so connected to each other that you're in perfect harmony all the time is amazing Alice. I'm so sorry I said the awful things I did, can you forgive me?" I asked desperately.

Alice's responding smile was as warm and happy as ever. "You've already been forgiven." She promised me and left my room quickly.

My chest flooded with warmth and happiness as Alice's light footsteps danced downstairs. My little sister is too good for this world, so loving and forgiving.

If someone like Alice came into our lives the first time, then what will Bella be like for this family? Will she be as tolerant and caring as Alice? Or be her own completely different personality? Will she blend in with this family, or stand out on her own like Alice?

My head swam with questions the rest of the night and so I was surprised by Alice suddenly bounding into my room and pulling clothes out of my closet for the school day.

"I'm sorry but I've got to make you look presentable, you're going to talk to Bella today!" Alice cheered as she debated between a red or a green shirt.

"I am?" I questioned her, hardly feeling brave enough to speak to the girl who's already changed my life forever.

"Yes! I'm so excited! I can't wait to say hi to her today!" Alice giggled happily.

"Alice, you may hate me for saying this. But I don't want any of you talking to Bella yet." I sighed and she froze completely, shock coursing through her.

"Why?" She asked carefully, her voice unusually quiet and monotone.

"Because she's not like you. You already knew the secret-"

"Human life." She said quickly, her reminder to not go too far into a certain subject from her 'past life'.

"Anyway, she doesn't know we're vampires. If she has a bubbly little supernatural creature suddenly attached to her and wanting to be her best friend, she's going to get freaked out." I sighed.

"She'll be surprised by me no matter what." Alice sighed. "But she'll learn to love me." She perked up and turned towards me, handing me a green shirt. "I guess I can wait till next weekend." Alice smirked, something she picked up from Edward, and left the room quickly, leaving me confused.

Later, after lunch, I was sitting at my lab table in Biology, waiting anxiously for her to walk in and sit beside me like the day before.

Soon enough, Bella walked into the room, followed by a chatty Mike Newton, and nervously took her seat beside me.

"Hi, I'm sorry for not introducing myself yesterday. I'm Jasper Hale, and you're Bella?" I smiled as much as I could while dealing with the wonderful smell of her blood.

She was surprised by my newfound friendliness and offered me a small tight lipped smile. "Yeah, I'm Bella Swan. It's nice to meet you."

Her voice was so soothing and took me so off guard, the only thing I could do was smile back at her like a love struck idiot.