Devotion ~ A Jasper Hale Story

Chapter Three

Saying her goodbyes to her sister, who was headed to biology, Adeline made her way to her last class, history. Struggling to find the room number, she looked down at her paper to make sure she was looking for the correct one, and before she knew it she had walked smack into someone's small frame. Adeline looked up from her paper to see Alice, and began to apologize profusely.

"I'm so so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going."

"It's okay," Alice responded with a laugh. "I'm Alice, it's your first day right? Do you need help? Where are you headed?"

"I'm Adeline, and I'm headed to history, room 137."

"You're joking! I'm heading there too," Alice smiled. "My sister Rosalie and my brother Japser are in that class as well! You and I are going to be great friends, I can totally see it."

Adeline smiled as she and Alice made their way to class. Heads turned their way to look at the unexpected pair, but Addie didn't even notice. She was having too much fun talking to Alice.
The two of them walked into class and Addie handed the teacher sign her slip.

"You can sit right over there, Ms. Swan. Next to Mr. Hale. Jasper raise your hand."

Adeline looked over and felt her heart stop. It was Jasper, the same blond, golden-eyed boy from before. Addie had forgotten Alice had mentioned he was in this class. She peeled her eyes away to look at Alice, and followed the girl to the back of the class. As Alice sat next to Rosalie, Adeline took her seat next to Jasper. The first thing the girl noticed as she sat down, was how utterly confused the boy looked.

Just start talking to him, Addie. Pretend to be an extrovert. Fake it till you make it.

"Hi, Jasper, I'm Adeline. Do you think I'll be super far behind? I was talking to Alice on the way here and she said she thinks I'll be okay."

Jasper clears his throat before starting, "Um, I think you'll be okay. We're finishing up the War of 1812 soon and starting the Civil War. If you need any help you can, uh, let me know."

"Okay, awesome!" Adeline was surprised by Jasper's southern accent. "Thank you so much. I love history but coming in during the middle of a semester really sucks."

"Well, if Alice likes you, you can't be half bad," he says as he gives me a small smile. That's when the teacher began to talk about the end of the war, and Addie began to tune out and think about the conversation she just had.

Maybe this won't be as bad as I thought.

When class was over, Adeline was still daydreaming. The bell snapped her out of her trance, and she looked over at Jasper to see he had already packed up his things.

Is he waiting for me? Adeline slowly began to pack up her things. I should say something.

"Thank you so much for offering to help, Jasper. I really appreciate it." Good start, Addie.

"Of course, ma'am. My pleasure."

"Adeline! I'm so so happy we have a class together. I think I saw you in my art this morning too right?" Adeline jumped slightly as Alice started talking from behind her.

"Yeah, right before lunch."

"Awesome! Adeline this is Rosalie. She's our adoptive sister."

Addie looks at Rosalie and shoots her a small smile and a wave. "Hey."

"Hi," Rosalie responds, returning Adeline's smile.

"Come on, Adeline, we'll all walk you out to your car! You're the red truck, right," Alice inquired.

"Yup, that's me."

As Adeline walked with her three new friends, more heads turned as they watched the new girl be welcomed by the school's weirdest students. Again, Addie didn't notice this. She was too busy talking to Alice about how her day was, and chatting a bit with Rosalie about fashion. Jasper stayed quiet, until they got to the parking lot.

"It was so nice talking to you, Adeline," Alice said as she gave Addie a huge hug. "I can't wait to see you tomorrow, it's going to be fun!"

"Yeah," Addie smiled, returning the hug. "It's going to be great."

"And we all need to go shopping sometime too," Rosalie said with a smile.

"Absolutely," Addie responded. As Alice, Rosalie, and Jasper started to turn and walk towards their cars, Jasper turned around towards Adeline.

"It was nice sitting with you in History. Find me if you need help with anything," he said as he smiled at the girl in front of him.

"Thanks, Jasper, I definitely will," Adeline replied, giving him a huge grin.

Jasper then turned around, and slowly jogged to catch up with Alice and Rosalie, who were now halfway to their cars. Adeline turned around, and saw Bella stomping over to her.

"You don't look like you had a very good day, Bells."

"Get in the car, Addie. We can talk about it on the way home," she said, shooting a look towards the Cullens, specifically Edward, who just so happened to be joining them now.

As the girls drove off, Bella told Adeline all about how rude Edward was to her in biology. Addie told Bella how shocked she was, and how sweet Alice, Rosalie, and Jasper were to her.

Meanwhile, the Cullens were discussing the Swan girls. While Edward started talking about the strong scent of Bella's blood, Jasper, Alice, and Rosalie were quick to inform him and Emmett about Adeline's lack of a scent.

"You two don't understand," Jasper said, "For the first time in a long time, I could stand to have a conversation with a human. And I actually enjoyed talking to her without worrying about killing her."