storm ◇ jasper hale ◇

chapter three ; dickheads

Madej felt like he was being thrown out of his skin. He jerked awake, finding himself sitting up. There was cold sweat covering his body, and he could feel how quickly he was breathing.

Pretend it was a nightmare, Madej thought to himself, falling back onto his bed, hands covering his face. "Just a nightmare, not like it's something traumatic you're trying to repress because therapists are fucking expensive," he said, words not reaching his ears.

He was fine. He was safe. Things would be OK.

Madej flicked the lamp on that was atop his bedside table, feeling a little comfort at the light. He couldn't get comfy in his bed, unable to relax, thoughts filling him. He wanted his brother there with him. Zeke would always wake up when he had a nightmare. They'd share the bed, reassuring each other until they dozed off once more. He couldn't do that anymore. It made his bedroom seem that much bigger without his presence.

He thought about how he'd been doing OK at school, trying to distract himself; Rosalie and Emmett talked to him enough, though didn't seem to suspect that he knew what they were. It was weird; it was like he was the only one they regularly talked to outside of their little group. There were other occasions with the other students at the school, but he noticed how they talked to him more often. It wasn't subtle.

Madej knew that they didn't know what he was, what Angela was. He had brought up the topic of witches to the two of them, and both had dismissed it, like they didn't believe in the idea of magic and spells. He'd spotted the slight unease though, the question of supernatural making the vampires uneasy.

Alice Cullen had also tried to befriend him as well.

It had been weird. The first thing he registered was just how small she was. He thought it was a little ridiculous, but he didn't mention it. He was just maybe something like a foot taller than her, no biggie. He felt like a damn giant next to her. She was under five foot, and there he was slowly nearing six foot.

He could remember how she'd looked at him like he was so interesting, like she couldn't get something quite right with him, unlike everyone else. She had offered to take him out to go clothes shopping, and Madej had been quick to deny it; he was perfectly fine wearing t-shirts and hoodies he'd bought online. Plus, it wasn't like he could afford to go clothes shopping wherever Alice went shopping; he saw the designer tags on her clothes.

Afterwards, Jessica had cornered him, asking why Alice Cullen, of all people, wanted to be his friend. Madej had just shrugged and told her he didn't hear a word either of the girls had said, then walked off.

The other two - Rosalie's twin, Jasper, and the emo-looking boy called Edward - didn't really talk to him, and he was fine with that. They kind of weirded him out. Jasper kept giving him weird looks every so often in History, and Edward  hadn't been there for the entire week. Something was off about that.

And Madej had known that there was a certain pull towards Jasper unlike the regular one of the pull vampires had on their prey. It was a little unsettling, and Madej wondered if Jasper noticed; he had to, he had superior senses to Madej. Maybe that was why he kept giving him looks in History, wondering if Madej had noticed too?

There had also been some murder in Seattle that had everyone spooked. Madej had been concerned, and his mom had suggested it could be a vampire that wasn't the Cullen coven.

Madej reached over for his phone, scrolling through social media for a while. He knew he wasn't going to go to sleep any time soon. He'd looked at his old friend's posts, liking them and leaving comments. He especially liked Elijah and Eliza's couple photo. They'd finally gotten together. He looked in the comments and saw Oscar, Liv and Evie rightfully teasing them. It wasn't long until a message from his brother popped up, asking why he was awake so late at night.