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THE MONTH SUCCEEDING THE ACCIDENT was likely the worst time of Bailey's life. She went from spending most of her days alone to having people staring her down at every corner mindful that she was the second Swan's sister and that she had survived a very bad accident. The rest of that week Tyler Crowley had introduced himself and apologized even though Bailey hadn't been injured at all. Regardless, he came to her locker every morning without fail with the same despairing apologies. Luckily, Bailey found escape every lunch in the library where Bella could be the center of attention when she sat at her crowded lunch table.
Bailey had the events replaying in her mind for a while. She felt things, emotions she couldn't quite place, couldn't understand. She knew that at first, she was stunned, then scared... but there was more that she wasn't aware of. She had been so preoccupied it caused her to forget to pack a lunch one day. Bailey sat in an empty aisle, her back pressed firmly against an enormous bookcase. She was trying to read to ignore the hunger she felt, trying to ignore the rumblings of her stomach. She could hold out until dinner she was sure of it.
Bailey stiffened when a hand appeared beside her. She looked down to her side to find that someone had slipped a blueberry muffin through the opening of the bookshelf.
"Mr. Hale?" Bailey blurted out without thinking.
He stopped and stared at her from the opposite aisle, his body stiff and unmoving for a while—he looked like a sculpture.
"Jasper. My name is Jasper."
He did not sound like Bailey would have imagined, particularly she was startled by his southern accent.
Bailey looked at the muffin, her stomach growled but she did not pick it up.
"Why?" she asked. Jasper raise one of his blond eyebrows and Bailey knew she had to say more—"Why are you offering me food?"
"You're hungry, aren't you?" he said as if it were obvious, which it likely was.
"It would go against my better judgement to take food from a stalker."
He cracked a crooked smile. Jasper sat down and leaned his back on the opposite side of the bookcase. The muffin sat between them. They stayed that way for a while, just silently. He did not make any more attempts at small talk, which Bailey appreciated. So after a few minutes, she set down her book, took hold of the muffin and ate it. In the process, she had let her guard down and so Jasper took that chance to ask her a question.
"How are you feeling, after the accident?"
Bailey chewing slowed. She wished that he didn't ask her about it. Everyone always seemed to be asking her about it. What did they expect to hear? Bailey didn't know how to answer them. She didn't know how she felt and it was so frustrating. She found herself clenching her fist. It should have been simple; it was simple for other people to identify how they felt. They could express it so easily that, Bailey was envious of that.
