One of A Kind

Pre-Twilight: Chapter Seven

We've been working on our project for about three hours now, and I'm so done with it. I know I said I love school and all that, but I also like my non-schoolwork time.

"Okay. I think I have reached my brain power limit for today." I say to them, closing my notebook. They look up at me and instantly close their books. Huh. Maybe I made this study session a little too long. "Sorry. When I get into a project, I can sometimes go for hours on end."

"It's okay. It's good we got a kick start on it. Everyone else in the class probably hasn't even finished reading the book." Alice says. We laugh at that.

"Very true. But I think we got a good bit of this project done."

"Your plan is probably the closest to perfection I have seen," Jasper says. "In regards to school." His eyes lock with mine when saying that.

"Thank you. I take pride in the fact that I think everything has to be as perfect as possible."

"Well, from what I have seen, everything that involves you seems pretty close to perfection." He says. I can feel my cheeks reddening, and I try to cover them with my hair. I peek at him through my hair, and he looks very rigid. I hope I didn't make him feel uncomfortable.

"T-Thank you."

"I have to go help Esme with something. I will be back in a few." Alice says. She stands up and leaves the room.

We sit there in silence for what feels like hours, but I know it's only been a few minutes. I stand up and walk to one of the bookshelves. I hear him stand up, but I don't look back. I look and see one of my favorite books and grab it.

"Gone with The Wind. A classic Southern novel." Jasper says softly.

I turn and face him. "Is this a first edition?" He nods, and my eyes widen. "It's one of my favorites."

"And why is that?"

"It's embarrassing."

"Try me." He chuckles.

"I enjoy like the love story part of it." I pause and look at him. "Something about that love story. It ends differently than others. Rhett left Scarlett in the end, even though he loved her dearly."

"Why would that be embarrassing?" I hold eye contact with him even though my mind screams at me to break it.

"It's a historical fiction novel based on the Civil War. The point was to make a statement about the time period, but I focus more on the love story aspect of it."

"That's not embarrassing."

"Thank you. Some people would say differently." I break eye contact. I gently open the book and see a signature. "Wait a minute. Is this an autographed copy?"

"Yeah. I like to collect books by Southern authors." He says.

"This is so cool. This must've cost a fortune." I look back at him.

"Carlisle gave it to me when I was adopted. I had once told him I had a small collection of books written by Southern authors. Apparently, it was passed down in his family."

"That's so sweet." He nods. "He seemed very nice to me when he checked my head out at the hospital."

"Yeah, he is." He fidgets with his hands as if he is thinking about what to say. "He saved us all from bad situations and took us in."

"Bad situations?"

"Yeah." How he said it made it seem like that was the last time he wanted to talk about it. I am not going to push him about it.

"So why do you collect novels by Southern authors?" I ask to try and change the topic.

"I grew up in Texas, and I always had a love for books. No matter the genre. The only books in my town in Texas were written by Southern authors. So I started collecting them, and I guess I still do." He says, looking down at the floor like it is the most interesting thing to look at. "Have you lived in Forks all your life?"

"Yup. Born and raised."

"And you live with your dad?"

"Yeah, and my stepmom."

"Any siblings?"

"Yeah. I have a younger sister, Bella. She is down in Phoenix with my mom and stepdad."

"Are you close with them?"

"Actually, yeah. Living over one thousand miles away from each other, you would think that we wouldn't be close. But we are. We are on the phone almost every other day with each other."

"That's great. Do you miss them?"

"Yeah. But I love living here. Even though I'm close with my mom and sister, I'm closer with my dad."

"I get that." We hold eye contact for what seems like forever. It starts to become a little uncomfortable.

"So... um, where did Alice run off to do?" I ask, breaking eye contact again.

As if on cue, she walks through the door. "I'm back. Sorry, I had to help Esme with something." She walks up to Jasper and me. I take a step back. It wasn't until now I realized that he and I were standing very close together. "Would you like to stay for dinner?" She asks me.

"Oh, I would love to, but Anna is making my favorite dinner tonight, and I don't want to miss it," I say. Don't get me wrong, the Cullens are lovely, but I still have to be careful around them until I know I can trust them.

"Okay. We can drive you home if you'd like." She offers.

"That'd be great. Thank you." We head out the door of the library and walk down the stairs. As we walked out the front door, I noticed that Rosalie, Emmett, and Edward were sitting in the living room. They all look up and stare at me as I leave. I had learned their names thanks to Lyvia's excellent detective work.

Alice is the one to drive me home, with me in the front. I offered to sit in the back, but Jasper protested and let me sit up front. Once again, the car ride was quiet and consisted of different soft music playing in the background. Talk about déjà vu.

We finally get to my house, and Alice stops me as I open the door to get out. "Hey, Netta?"

"Yeah?"

"Is it possible that I could get Lyvia's number?" I slightly smirk and nod. I get out my phone and give her Lyv's number. She is about to be very happy.

"Have a good night. I will see you two tomorrow."

"Good night, Janetta," Jasper says to me.

"Night, Netta!" Alice calls. "Thank you, by the way."

I give her a nod and walk up the stairs and enter the house. I walk into the kitchen and grab a glass of water. I turn and see Anna standing there.

"Why were you with the Cullens?"