Charlotte Smith was self-centred, vain, arrogant and judgmental when she arrived in the small town of Forks, Washington. The girl had been spoiled all her life and was too out of touch with the real world to appreciate beautiful things in life.
Bec...
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SOMEBODY'S WATCHING ME
Who's playing tricks on me?
At 19:37 on the dot, Jasper received a voicemail from a very frantic Charlotte.
"I'm so sorry, Jasper. I really am so sorry....... I can't meet you tonight anymore..... I-" He could hear some muffling and very quiet whispers, "My uncle..... he's ill......" There was more shuffling on the other line, "We're getting a flight to Europe now..... I'm sorry."
The vampire had listened to the voicemail a few times, he had replayed it exactly three times before his family joined him to discuss. While he would have preferred to keep it private, nothing in this house was ever a secret.
"She called it Europe." Was the first thought in Jasper's mind after he had gotten over the rejection.
"Okay?"
Isabella happened to be at the Cullen house (as normal) and answered Rosalie's question, "I'm pretty sure Charlotte's British, or at least she lived there at some point. A European would never refer to a country as Europe."
It was true, especially when it came to Charlotte. She had one very heated debate with Mike on why he never refers to Australia as Oceania, or Argentina as South America - but Moldova as Europe, or Tunisia as Africa. The argument fell on flat ears, as Mike had never heard of Moldova.
"She's obviously frantic though,"
Edward moved to join Bella's side, "Where are her family in Europe?"
The poor girl couldn't think straight with all of the golden eyes on her, "I don't know......somewhere warm." She let out the longest sigh, "Maybe Germany or Italy or maybe even Greece.... It's her uncle on her mom's side.... or uncles. I-"
"- We get it," Rosalie interrupted with an eye roll, "You don't know."
"Even if she did know, why does it matter?" Esme perched herself on the arm of the chair her husband sat in, "A family member of hers is unwell and she is clearly upset. I don't like how you are all suspicious of her."
"I'm not suspicious of her," Jasper zoomed to stand in front of the fire place, "I'm worried."
"He's mad that he's not getting some tonight, am I right?"
"Shut up, Emmett." Rosalie nudged her husband in the side with a hint of a smile dancing on her lips.
Wherever it was that Charlotte was going, it had him worried. He felt like she had a habit of lying, although the things he'd picked up had just been little white lies, things about her past she obviously didn't want to talk about. Although even if she wasn't lying about going to Europe, he was worried about her recent admission.
"She told me Victoria had visited her."
For some unexplainable reason, Jasper had chosen not to tell his family.
"What?" Alice whispered, she hadn't seen it. Why hadn't she seen it? She had tried to keep tabs on everything Victoria and James did when they were in town, so how had she missed that?
"And you didn't tell us?" Rosalie, to put it lightly, was annoyed.
"I.... I didn't think it was important."
"How can that not be important? Her boyfriend was trying to kill Bella and there she was at Charlotte's house! How is that not important?"
"Rosalie!" Esme was tense, too tense for her children to be arguing, "Don't talk to your brother like that."
"He's not my real brother."
Carlisle didn't think now was the time to scold Rosalie on her denial of their family, "Why was she there, Jasper? What did she say?" Someone had to keep level headed.
Jasper almost wanted to shrug his shoulders, "She didn't tell me much, Victoria was the one that told her we were murders..." A quick clear of his throat, "And that I was sleeping with Alice."
"Ugh, Jasper this is important information." If there was one thing about Rosalie, it was that she would never give it a rest.
"She didn't want me to tell you!"
"And so you didn't! She wouldn't have known if you did."
"It's okay, Jasper. You didn't want to betray her trust." It most definitely was not okay, but now was not the time for Esme to tell him that, "Rosalie, why don't you and Emmett go and take a walk? Have a hunt or something."
"I don't want t-"
"Come on babe, I don't think it was a question."
Once the couple had left, conversation resumed, "When she gets back, why don't you invite her for dinner? It would be nice, she could get to know all of us better, and we could try to learn more about her experience with Victoria.... and get to know her better too of course."
Jasper would have been over the moon at having Charlotte at his house, however not under these circumstances. He knew something was wrong, but he wasn't sure what.
It didn't make sense.
"You don't think she's lying to us.... do you?"
It was a valid question from Bella, however it would make no sense for Charlotte to lie to them. She gained nothing from lying. "Maybe she's working with Victoria?" Alice threw out, but even she didn't believe it.
"No, when she spoke about Victoria. Her heart sped up, she didn't stay on the subject for more than a few seconds. She.... she was scared at even the thought of her."
Before another suggestion could be thrown out about Charlotte's behaviour, Jasper's phone buzzed with a text.
'Ran past the Smith residence, lights are out and no one's home. I think they have gone to Europe.' Read Emmett's text.
