THE UNOFFICIAL INTRODUCTION OF JASPER HALE, PART II
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On top of her housework, and cooking that she does for her great-aunt, Mia now has a bunch of homework to be done. She manages to do this in the soft glow of her candles on her desk after her great-aunt has gone to bed. Luckily, her education back in New York was a few months ahead in the curriculum than Forks High School is, and Mia has always felt naturally comfortable with academics, so she sails through her schoolwork smoothly. It doesn't feel like long after she falls asleep to the light of the moon when she's being woken up early in the morning by Mathilda, knocking on her door requesting eggs on toast for breakfast.
There is an illustrated copy of Cinderella on the bookshelf in her room, and so she takes it as she heads off to school and reads it on the dreary walk. Some part of her resonates with Cinderella, like she had done so when she was a child: parentless, constant house chores and not much time for herself. She tightens the blue ribbon in her hair, and starts to imagine a faceless prince in a large, beautiful castle, whisking her away from all her responsibilities. The next day she wears a baby blue dress, and as she tightens her white apron on to make dinner, Mia could almost imagine that she was in a fairytale.
A week later, and ice has started to form on the ground, and drips from the forest trees outside. Mia's great-aunt doesn't go into the back garden, muttering some ridiculous spiel about supernatural creatures living amongst the trees, so Mia herself spends a lot of her time weeding the backyard. In the time that she's been in Forks, she's made the garden that opens up to the forest tame, and beautiful. In the mornings before school, if she has enough time, she'll drink her tea and stare out into the woods.
That morning however, she doesn't have the time, and finds herself late to school due to attempting to navigate the ice and not fall, due to the slippery ground. It snowed in New York as well, but Mia isn't the most gracefully balanced of humans.
The day goes as quickly as her morning, and before she knows it, Mia is leaving her last period, English II, with Alice chattering away next to her. The two had gotten close since the first lesson, meaning that now Mia could consider herself to have two friends in Forks- Bella Swan and Alice Cullen.
"You should come and sit with us at lunch one day," Alice is saying as she patiently waits for Mia to carefully make her way down the wet concrete steps to the parking lot. She's been slipping a lot over the day.
"Oh, I don't want to intrude," Mia says. "I don't know the rest of your family that well."
Alice shakes her head, "That's okay! That doesn't matter. You'll get to know them soon enough."
Alice seems to do that often; speak about the future in a very knowing way. Mia found it odd in the beginning, but now she brushes over it. It's just another one of Alice's quirks that makes her interesting, Mia thinks.
Suddenly, a loud car horn echoes through the parking lot. The two girls snap their heads up, to see a black van skidding across the concrete- and it's heading towards Bella, who is standing next to her truck.
"Bella!" Mia yells desperately, and despite the white cord of her earphones plugged into her ears, Bella turns around, but it looks too late. Mia lets out a shriek of horror as the black van bumps into Bella's truck, and begins to rush towards the scene of the accident. She had only known Bella for a little bit, but she's the closest friend Mia has (other than Alice). Everyone is either standing near their vehicles or have already gathered around Bella's truck, so she hasn't any need to push past people. She's nearly made it to the cars, when a slab of ice under her feet betrays her. She lets out a little yell as she feels her feet slide out from under her, and is expecting to feel the strong impact of the concrete below her- but it doesn't come.
Strong hands secure her under her elbow and around her waist. Mia lets out a little gasp from the shock of it all. She was convinced that she'd hit the ground, that no one was near her.
"Woah there, are you alright, ma'am?" A voice says into her ear quietly. She looks up, and finds herself staring into the face of Jasper Hale, who is looking straight back at her.
"You- What-" She splutters out before closing her eyes for a second in an attempt to process the quick succession of events. When she opens them again, Jasper's mouth is curling up in a smile so small that if Mia blinked, she'd miss it. She wasn't wrong when she first saw him in the cafeteria, she thinks. He really is the most beautiful man she'd ever seen. He has a southern twang to his accent, and Mia wants him to open his mouth again and never stop talking.
Suddenly she realises that they've been looking at each other far too long.
"I'm okay," she murmurs back, as he pulls her upright, fingers lingering on her waist for a second before pulling away.
"That's good," he says, in the same quiet voice. "Be careful now." He gives an odd nod of his head, like he was tipping a hat, before walking back to his car, where his foster siblings stood waiting. Mia watches him go for a moment, before cursing herself in her head- why was she staring after a boy, regardless of how cute he was, when Bella could be hurt! She whips her head back to the scene of the accident, noticing a large crowd had gathered around. Determinedly she elbows her way through the crowd to stand next to Mike, who is helping Bella up.
"Bella!" She gasps, relief flooding her as she finds that her best friend is conscious, and looking uninjured.
Bella is looking around herself, with a confused look on her face, before locking eyes with Mia, who rushes to her friend's side.
"Bella, I've got 911 on the phone now," someone is saying, and Tyler, the driver of the van, is leaning out of his window, blood running down his forehead, apologising profusely.
"Bella, are you alright?" Mia asks, cupping her friend's face in her hands and checking her all over for any injuries.
"I-I'm okay," Bella stutters. "But Edward- he stopped the car- he was on the other side of the parking lot I don't know how he got here so fast- look-"
Mia frowns, and touches Bella's head again, worried that she'd somehow knocked her head, but when she looks in the direction of where Bella is pointing, sure enough there is a dent in Tyler's van, positioned in the perfect place to save Bella.
"He stopped it with his bare hand." Bella whispers to Mia, her eyes wide with shock.
Well, Mia thinks. Forks just got a lot more interesting.
