Lifelines - Jasper Hale

Nine - Bobo Swan

Joan had been unsuccessful in getting out of going to school that morning. She was forced into a car with stupid Edward because he wanted to arrive in style that morning. Or whatever that meant to him. Sometimes Joan felt as though he was more of a teenage girl then she was. 

Her morning hadn't gotten much better after this as well. She had received her timetable for the year and was not happy. She had first compared it to her other family members praying that she would have one if not two of them in each of her classes. 

"We only have history and English together." Joan sighed when holding both her own timetable and Jasper's. Knowing that she was barely going to see him during the day put her on edge. Joan didn't want to say she was reliant on her mate. He just automatically calmed her down and he was sometimes her anchor keeping her attached to the ground. Without him she was frightened, scared something terrible would happen at any moment. 

"Hey princess, this is okay. You'll be fine and I'll be there in an instant if you need me. Okay? I won't ever be far only a couple of rooms down. It's nothing different to you being in Alice's room and me in ours. " Jasper tried to reason as he ran his hands down Joan's arms in a comforting manner. She knew not how to respond to his statement rather moving her hands to grasp his. Like a lifeline holding her in place, keeping her in place. She gave him a small smile before moving onto the first lesson of her day. 

Joan manoeuvred her way into the first lesson of the day maths, the classroom was structured much like any classroom you would see in a typical American film or tv show. Twenty individual desks a joint to chairs filled the room in four rows of five. They were ratty and covered in drawings of students past. She took a seat towards the back of the room hiding in the corner. Despite this being one of her favourite lessons, she still hated the idea of anyone else attempting to talk to her or the possibility of being called up by the teacher. She knew her father had worked something to avoid this though was adamant everyone else in the class thought she was recluse enough to avoid her. 

She could have celebrated when the seat in front of her remained empty despite the other members of the class coming in. It offered her solitude. The year was looking like it wouldn't be so painful if it was to remain this way. However, once again by thinking positively, it had backfired upon Joan as another girl stumbled into class. 

Normally, she would not think that way when describing how someone entered the room. However, this girl, whoever she was, did quite honestly trip on something as she attempted to enter the room. She had been awkwardly asked to introduce herself to the class, exactly as seen in a tv show, which provoked an equally as awkward response from the girl. Joan hadn't really caught the new girl's name. She had been too focused on doodling on the paper she had on her desk. She knew she would never converse with the girl properly or have to socialise with her outside of class. Therefore, learning her name was not something that she had to focus diligently on. But from what she had heard she was happy she was named Joan. She was certain that only hippies came up with absurd names such as Bobo. 

But she couldn't judge. She was pretty old and was probably out of the loop in terms of the naming trends of children. Not like she could have any anyways. 

The lesson dragged as the teacher outlined the topics they would be covering during the year and attempting to give out a test. This test was designed to see what they could remember from the previous years worth of study. Just to help with the tasks they were given. 

Throughout the duration of the lesson, Joan bounced her knee and clicked her pen to a rhythm. It was also another reason as to why she sat at the back. There were fewer people to annoy as those generally sat at the back rarely cared about their education. And as such, much like the boy to her left, were asleep and could not be bothered by her unnecessary actions. However, the new girl seemed to be annoyed by Joan's actions, turning around at one point and giving a snobby look. 

But slowly yet surely the lesson was over. Joan calmly collected her items and headed towards the door. Her clicking of the pen changed to her tapping a pen on one of the notepads she was carrying. The action working as some sort of relief. And to the next lesson, she headed. 

Author's note:

Hello all! I don't know how long you have been reading this book for or if you have just started to read. Welcome if the latter is the case. I would like to apologise for how long it has taken me to finally work on this book. I left it for so long due to not having a direction I wanted to go in and not being sure where I was headed. Recently I have been sat thinking about the way I had left this book and trying to come to a place where I would be happy to leave it and I'm hoping to do that as soon as possible.

Thank you for reading and returning to this book,

_tooprettyforprison_