storm ◇ jasper hale ◇

chapter twenty ; abandonment

It was out of the ordinary. After Bella's birthday, the Cullens had avoided both Madej and Bella. Madej had sent a message to Jasper, asking how he had been, but got no reply. He then decided to message Emmett, asking if something had happened, and when he didn't get a reply, he gave up. They hadn't even appeared at school over the last few days. So something was wrong, and they weren't letting Madej or Bella know.

"Hey, how's your arm?" Bella asked as Madej got into her truck.

"Achy. How's yours?"

She nodded. "Same as yours. Has Jasper been talking to you?"

"Nah." He shook his head, hiding his anger. "After your birthday, I don't think he wants to be around you or me. We're breakable. He broke my arm. He's not gonna be happy with himself, even though he knows I don't blame him."

Bella passive aggressively started her truck back up, muttering under her breath as they made their way to school.

The day after Bella's birthday, Angela had pulled him aside, asking why he had a broken arm, why the Cullens weren't in school even though it was cloudy.

"Jasper broke my arm, trying to get to Bella. Bloodlust," he told her quietly. When the others asked, Madej told them he and Emmett had been roughhousing, and it got a little out of hand.

The others had joked that Emmett had been a house, the weight of both Madej and Emmett on his arm causing the broken bones. He had graciously let the others sign his cast, and had to redesign the penis Mike had drawn on the wrist of the cast into something less phallic. Mike had been giggling the entire time Madej fixed the so called artwork. Afterwards, Madej had thrown his marker right into Mike's eye.

But now Madej and Bella were going through the motions of the school day without the people they were usually around. It hurt Madej a lot, even if he didn't vocalise it. He trusted them, and he knew something like this was bound to happen. He had gotten into scrapes before, with other supernatural beings. Still, he knew it hit different because the Cullens cared about him and Bella, and seeing the two get hurt must've done a number on them.

"Think I'd be a good soldier in the army?" Mike asked at lunch.

"Ah, yes, the colonist think joining the Army is good," Madej said, and Mike gasped at him. "What? You're on my land, bitch." He still smiled, letting Mike know he was just joking.

Mike punched his right shoulder, like he didn't want to dare hurt Madej's other one. "You scare me sometimes, Mad Madej."

"White people scare me, how do you think I feel?"

The boy paused. "Touché, Madej, touché."

In the latter day, during his lessons, Madej started to get an awful feeling in his gut. It felt like a bad feeling, like flight or fight was kicking in, even though there weren't any dangers around them. It felt weird, and his heart kept speeding up and slowing down.

The bad feeling continued into the drive back home from school once it was out for the day.

"I don't trust this," he said, and Bella nodded, glancing over a him. "Don't get why they're not here. I know why Jasper wouldn't be here. It's just ... they're ignoring us. That's just so suspicious."

"Yeah. He ... ignored my messages, when I asked him where he was or why he wasn't turning up. I even texted Alice, and she usually always replies before I send the message." Bella grunted in annoyance. "It's fucking annoying," she said as she parked up beside Madej's house. "I'm tempted to drive up to the house, confront them myself."

He nodded his agreement. "I get why they're not here, but they have to own up - Edward threw you into a table, made the bloodlust worse. He's the most affected by your blood, and that messed with Jasper, who can sense that kinda shit. Then he accidentally broke my arm in his eagerness to kill you."