Chapter 4

                                    

                                          
Walking into history on Monday, someone grabbed Bella's arm and pulled her back around the corner.  She spun right into Jasper.
"Shit, you scared me!"
"That's nothin', darlin'," he grinned, and Bella could tell there was much left unsaid.  Before she could ask and pick up their game again, he continued, "Let's go."
"Go?  What do you mean go?"
"I mean get outta here.  Are you really about to tell me, you'd rather go to history than spend an hour with yours truly?"
Now it was Bella's turn to smirk.  "Maybe."
"I'll answer a question if you come."
"Ten."
"Two."
"Five," she said, holding up his jacket.  "And I'll give you this back."
"You drive a hard bargain, Miss Swan," he grinned, first grabbing his jacket and then her bag, slinging both over his shoulder, "but I accept."
Much to her relief, they didn't drive anywhere.  He lead her into the woods.  It was passing period and they easily slipped through the crowd.  "I've never done this before," she admitted, following a few paces behind him, her eyes glued to the forest floor to make sure she didn't trip and fall flat on her face.
"Why don't that surprise me?"  He stopped and waited for her to catch up, taking her hand in his.  "Feels good doesn't it?"
She grinned.  "Yeah."
They walked for a few minutes in silence, hand in hand, until Bella asked, "Where are we going anyway?"
"Is that a question?"
"Doesn't count," she laughed, punching his shoulder.  "Holy shit, that's one though!  Are you all made of stone?"
He stopped them dead in their tracks.  "You all?"
Just like that, all humor was sucked from the conversation.
"You and your family.  Your... y'know, your kind."
Jasper lowered his head to look her in the eye, though he wasn't much taller than her.  "You mean the Cold Ones."
She nodded, not sure she should have said anything.
Jasper ran his thumb over her wrist.  "I've always preferred that actually.  With all the stories and legends out there, vampire starts to sound ridiculous, even to me."
Before she could respond, Jasper placed one cold finger over her lips.  "Questions two through five will have to wait, darlin'.  I've got some of my own and I think I can answer some of yours better by showin' you instead of tellin'."
With just a few more feet, they were suddenly beside a flowing creek, sparkling with the sun that danced through the trees above them.  "Wow," Bella whispered on a breath as she took in the picturesque scene.  "It doesn't even look real.  Like something on a postcard."
"It's my favorite place," Jasper smiled, leading her down to the water's edge to sit beside him.  
"Do you come here a lot?"
"When I can," he shrugged, stretching out his legs and propping himself up on his arms behind him.  "When the house gets too loud or school gets too dull."
Bella frowned, crossing her legs and facing him.  "How many times have you been in high school anyway?"
 "Guess."
Her frown deepened as she looked him over.  He could be a couple years older than her.  Three max.  But that was just physically.  How long did vampires live?  If she believed the stories she'd found on her (admittedly very basic) Google search, they didn't age.  So what year was he from?  "Um," she finally said, "twelve times?"