Devotion ~ A Jasper Hale Story

Chapter Six

Bella and Addie stand in the parking lot, in the exact stop where they were almost hit. The memories were flooding back for them both.

"Look! You're moving! You're alive!"

There girls were snapped out of their trance by Mike.

"Yeah, false alarm," Bella says, emotionless.

"Actually, I'm glad you're not dead, though, cause that would suck, plus I, uh, actually wanted to, like, ask you - even though it's a month away - would you want to go to prom with me?"

Adeline looks over to Bella for a reaction, but instead sees her gaze locked onto Edward, who looked as though he was listening to the conversation. She gave her sister a sharp nudge and Bella's eyes snapped back to Mike.

"Sorry, what?" Great, Bells. Smooth.

"You want to go? To prom? With... me?"

"Oh," Bella stuttered, caught off guard. "Prom. As in dance. I don't think that's a good idea for me. Uh, I have to go somewhere! Jacksonville."

"You can't go another weekend?"

"Non-refundable ticket. Sorry."

"Okay... what about you Adeline? Are you going on the trip too?"

"No, but I'm straight up not going without Bella. Maybe you should ask Jessica."

Mike's gaze wanders to Jessica, who gives him a small, flirty, wave. Still feeling dejected, Mike walks over to her and the rest of the group. Adeline's gaze wanders as well, however, she ended up watching the Cullens. Similar to Edward, Jasper had also seemed to be listening to the conversation. Both boys held small smiles on their faces as Adeline sent them a wave.

While Bella wasn't the biggest fan of biology, Adeline was thoroughly looking forward to the field trip. She loved rainy days and gardening, so a rainy field trip to a greenhouse was right up her alley. As the girls got off the bus, Bella started to trail ahead of Adeline, getting lost in her own thoughts. This gave Addie the perfect opportunity to separate from Bella and go find the Cullens, who had ridden on a separate bus. She felt bad interacting with the group when she knew how hard they were trying to distance themselves from Bella, and she didn't want to make Bella feel left out.

Soon enough, Adeline saw the familiar sight of the Cullen clan, standing together lingering by their bus. Obviously they didn't want to be here, and were putting in effort to exclude themselves from participating. Alice was the first one to see Addie walking over, and shot her a smile. Taking notice of Alice's actions, the rest of the group turned around to see the girl heading towards them.

"Hey, guys, long time no see," Adeline said as she smiled brightly.

"Hey there, short-stack," called Emmett. Addie laughed at the new nickname.

"I'm not that short," she retorted.

Jasper laughed at the two bantering as he spoke, "Hey, Addie. How are you feeling since the accident?"

"I'm feeling a lot better. Your dad is a miracle worker, really. He gave me and Bella some sort of cream, and now the bumps on our heads are completely gone! Seriously, feel it."

Shocked that Addie could be so blunt with her words and act like they had been the closest of friends for years, Jasper could do nothing but reach his hand out towards the spot where the girl was motioning to.

"See, no bump!"

"Impressive," Jasper replied.

Addie smiled. He didn't need to know that this act was a way for her to confirm what she had already begun to suspect (the girl couldn't lie though, she loved his touch).

The Cullens are extremely, abnormally cold. I've never met someone who was as freezing to the touch as them.

Adeline decided to let the subject go for now and began to make small talk with Rosalie and Alice, discussing the latest trends and complimenting Alice's new boots. Soon after, Edward's eyes locked on Bella and he excused himself from the group, approaching the girl.

"I thought you guys were going to stay away from Bella?"

The remaining Cullens' eyes all shot to Addie, not expecting her to be so straightforward.

"That's what was supposed to be happening," Rosalie started. "But I guess he just can't help himself. No offense, but your sister is kind of -"

"A nosy bitch? Yeah I know," Adeline interrupted with a laugh. "I love her, but it's so difficult sometimes."

Everyone chuckled at the girl's words, easing the tension that had surrounded them.

"Can I ask you guys just one more question?"

The tension was back as Addie asked this. She didn't receive a spoken response, but she understood that she was meant to go on.

"Why are you so opposed to Bella not knowing whatever secret you guys have? I understand it must be dangerous for people to know whatever it is, but then isn't also dangerous for me to know you have a secret?"

"Addie," it was Jasper answering her question now, "You're different. It's hard to explain without you knowing, but all we can say is that you aren't in as much danger as your sister."

Adeline sighed. It was a disappointing answer, but she knew it was the truth. At this moment, students began to walk towards the busses, signaling that the trip was over.

"Do you want to ride with us, Adeline?" Alice said sweetly, "I already asked Bella, but Edward said no for her."

Adeline thought for a moment before responding, "No, I should get back to Bella. She's going to be more nosy if she sees me talking to you guys."

Alice nodded, and walked away towards her bus. Adeline sat down next to her sister, the Cullens' words still lingering in her mind.

What makes me so different from Bella? And how much danger are we in exactly?