Thank you for all the reviews from the last chapter you guys. I also do apologise for my poor proof reading as well. By this point I want the make it clear that Jasper is not schizophrenic or bipolar, just a regular asshole. Maybe one with a few good intentions. Maybe not.

Previously

"What the fuck is your problem?" He yelled, rubbing his cheek.

I gave him a stony look. "Don't you know by now, Jasper? You're my problem."

I walked over to Alice's car slowly. My entire body was cold and wet, my teeth we chattering, my hands were clenched around the straps of my bag, and my vision was blurry from the rain. Despite all that, my feet were trying to tell me that I was walking the wrong way, and my hands were clenching my bag even tighter, because really, they wanted to be clenched in Jasper's shirt. And my mouth, well it had had enough of the stream of obscenities that were spewing out of it. All it wanted was to be kissing Jasper's, just like he'd said. So, I walked very slowly towards Alice's car, afraid that if I took one wrong step, my body would call a mutiny and run back the way I'd come.

If there was one thing I had lied about to anyone, it was my true feelings for Jasper, and I had been lying to myself.

Jasper's POV

The rain was coming down heavier than before, and I was only just starting to notice the cold as it crept over my skin, turning me to ice. That's what I need, I thought to myself as I watched Bella's tense, retreating form. To turn to ice; to be cold enough so that I can just stop feeling.

I rubbed my cheek roughly where Bella had hit it. I was glad that she had. It was a good sign. I knew how to push most of her buttons by now, and I intended to push them slowly and painfully until she couldn't even stand to look at me.

She was with Edward, and he liked her. I could see the way he looked at her; how he felt about her was painfully obvious in his expression whenever he saw her. He was falling hard, and I didn't blame him. I also didn't blame him for being the better choice. She was better off with him, with someone who wouldn't hurt her.

Maybe if I hurt her enough, reminded her enough of the person from her nightmare, she'd make the right choice. If I became that person, maybe I could too.

I had no problem with making someone hate me. In fact, I dare say I could put it on my resume under the title Hobbies and Extracurricular Activities. I knew all the techniques, all the right insults to throw and all the painful insinuations to make. With Bella, in theory, it should be easy. But in practice, I knew it would be one hell of a challenge. After all, how do you succeed in making someone hate you, when every part of you is screaming that it's the opposite of everything you want?

I leant back against the car behind me—some hideous, pink thing—and groaned, scrubbing my hands over my rain-soaked face. "What are you doing to me girl?"

Suddenly the rain stopped, and I looked up to find an umbrella just as pink as the car hovering above me. "Well, for starters," came a voice I recognised from the hall outside Biology. "Preventing you from catching hyperthermia."

I stayed slouched against the car, an indifferent gesture I knew she'd hate. Donning my default smirk, I looked up into Lauren's made-up, light blue eyes. Even when it was raining, her blonde hair still managed to retain its straight perfection. My smirk grew as I remembered a time when that hair had been anything but straight and perfect. A time when it had been sweaty and tangled in my hands against bed sheets.

"Sorry, Lauren," I drawled, bringing out my accent to full force. "That wasn't aimed at you."

Her eyes shifted over to where Alice's car had been parked a few minutes ago, and she subtly shifted closer to me, whispering conspiratorially, "Is Swan giving you a hard time again?"

My smirk grew and I shifted a little uncomfortably. "Yeah, you have no idea."

At my agreement, and seeing a gossip buddy in me who seemed to hate her worst enemy too, she stood up straighter, a haughty look crossing her face as she put a hand on her hip. "God, she's such a whore."

I snorted at her, but of course she didn't realise that.

"I mean, who does she think she is? And you!" She cast me a pitying look. "I am so sorry. You have no choice but to put up with her. I mean, it's not your fault. Basically everyone knows that she's your punishment. And no one blames you for not wanting to get thrown out of school. But I mean, come on! Putting up with her all day, every day has to be basically torture."

I dropped my head in a half nod and grinned against my wet collar. If only she knew the half of it.

At this she took a step closer to me so that we were only inches apart. Her face was full of anguish and she put a despairing hand against my chest. I noticed idly that my pulse didn't so much as sputter when she came close to me or touched me. I scowled to myself. All Bella had to do was fucking look at me and my heartbeat was in my ears and pounding fast.

Laruen took my scowl as agreement to her rampage on Bella, and as much as I wanted to tell her to shut the fuck up and never speak a word about Bella again, I didn't. Maybe Lauren is what I need to get over Bella, I realised. Maybe things need to go back to how they used to be before she got here and screwed everything, including my peace of mind, up.

As Laruen traced her nails over my chest, I realised too that she might also be what I needed to make Bella really hate me.

I caught her hand, stopping its irritating trail over my shirt and pulled her closer to me so that she was leaning into my side. Her eyes were wide and hungry, and I knew that this was what she'd wanted since making eye contact with me in the hallway this morning.

"Why don't we go for a ride?" I suggested, my voice low, and I felt her press closer to me.

"Now?" She feigned ignorance and glanced over as me motorbike sitting out in the rain. "But it's pouring. I mean, if we went for a ride, we'd surely both get wet." When she looked back at me her eyes were smouldering.

I wrapped my arm around her waist, conscious that the parking lot would soon be full of watching students. "Oh, I'm sure we would."

She gave me a slow, sly smile and reached into her hand bag, swiftly producing a set of keys. "Then what are we waiting for?"

Bella's POV

I stormed over to Alice's car and leant against it, rubbing my stinging palm hard against my jeans and washing it in the sheeting rain water, trying to erase any and all evidence of Jasper Hale from myself. Unfortunately, the scowl he put on my face seemed to be a new, permanent fixture.

"Would you like to get in the car?" Came a voice from my right, oddly muffled by the rain. "Or would you prefer to stand out here in the rain and wear a hole in your jeans?"

Her heels clicked around me and to the other side of the car, while I remained standing out in the downpour, thinking that by some miracle I could wash away my feelings. Maybe all I truly needed was a really good purification. God knows he had poisoned me enough to warrant one.

Suddenly the door behind me opened up and I was pushed forward, my shoes slipping on the wet ground. I turned on Alice with a scowl, but it quickly slipped away when I saw hers.

"Get in Bella. The only thing you're going to wash away out there is your health, not your thoughts."I stared at her knowing brown eyes, not happy, but understanding. It must have been exhausting, I realised, noticing absolutely everything around you, and feeling that because you had noticed, now you had to help. Maybe I wasn't the only one who was completely confused and tired with the situations I put myself in.

"You're right," I sighed, my clenched fists falling numb at my sides.

She beamed at me. "I usually am, Bella. Now get in before the rain ruins my leather seats."

I sat back and slammed the door, shutting out the rain among other things. As we pulled out of the car park I watched Lauren Mallory strut up to Jasper's motionless figure beside her car. Soon they were indistinguishable underneath her bright pink umbrella.

"I can't tell you what's going on with him," Alice said into the silence. "Normally he acts this way when he's punishing himself, though I don't know what his sin of choice for this week could be." Her knuckles were white as she held the steering wheel.

I fiddled with the radio dial. "What?" She glanced over at my astonished tone. "Alice Cullen doesn't know the answer to something?" She shot me a glare. "Is this rain a biblical phenomenon?" I continued, not settling on a station for more than a moment. "Are we experiencing the apocalypse? Could it—"

Alice swiped at my fidgeting hands and turned the radio off entirely. "I'm concerned Bella. Can't you be serious?"

"Sorry. Jasper saps all of the seriousness and assertiveness out of me whenever I enter his presence, so all I'm left with currently is sarcasm and harrowing despair." I narrowed my eyes at the sheeting rain through the window as we neared the slayed body of my car. "Although, if I had spent the afternoon with him I'm sure he would have drained me of those emotions too. He takes them all for himself, you see. He's very greedy. A poor sharer."

Alice slammed on the breaks as she pulled up behind the truck, throwing me hard into my seatbelt. Rubbing my sure to be bruised shoulder, I threw her a dirty look, though it fizzled out when it collided with her own.

"Something's wrong, Bella. We need to fix it, or he's sure to get worse. And when he gets worse, it gets bad for all of us."

I wanted to sympathise, especially considering I was quickly becoming apart of the 'us' collective, but I was pissed off and hurt. Seeing the truck again after the previous night was like digging a finger into a wound to see how deep it runs. My hands were bloodying up fast.

A dark figure was moving around at the hood of the car, the bonnet raised and exposed to the weather. Reaching for the door handle, I shrugged at Alice. "I'm fucking over his mood swings, Alice. Let him fix it himself for once. It might teach him some independence and maturity."

Even the rain couldn't wash away the feeling of her irritation as I left the car.

Jasper's POV

My face was pressed so fucking hard into some puffy, pink-ass cushion I could barely breathe, but god was it good to finally feel something physical suffocating me for once.

"Oh god, Jasper, ha-harder."

If I bite into the pink frills and held my breath I could barely even hear her over the sound of my pulse in my ears.

"Shh, shh, Jasper, we've got to be quiet."

I tore my face away from the pillow and pressed my lips to her neck, sucking so hard that I was certain she didn't own enough make-up to cover tomorrows bruise. She moaned loudly, obnoxiously, arching her back and digging in her glossy nails.

Everything about Lauren was different to Bella, the way she sounded, the way she touched me, the way she smelled, and I loved it. I would have loved it more if I could stop thinking comparing everything.

I half sat up and looked down at her. Her blonde hair was spread out on the pillow, and her eye-shadow was smudged. Her hands pushed against my chest, gaining leverage against me as I grabbed her hips and pulled her closer across the covers. Her lips, raw and bare of lipstick now, smirked up at me as I picked up my pace.

"Better?"

She nodded absently and her head lolled back against the bed. Across the room her lime green bra hung from the corner of her desk decorated with pink upon pink upon pink and stood out against everything. I buried my face into her chest as she moaned for more. With my head full of a completely different scent, I gave her everything she asked for.

Bella's POV

"Thanks, Jake," I called to him over the sound of the rain. We were both soaked through by the time we got the engine going again. "I owe you big time."

He grinned at me through a tangle of brown hair and flashed a smile at Alice sitting in the front seat of her Porsche. "No worries, Bells. Just happy you'll be escaping this flood now."

"Yeah, well send me a bill for the cold and flu tablets that you'll most likely need for the next month."

His teeth flashed in the growing darkness. "Will do." He sent me a last wave and gave a last nod to Alice who had been watching him unblinkingly for the last hour before getting on his bike. I decided his rustic dirt bike was nicer than Jasper's one. It had character. Showed it's true nature, didn't rely on pretence.

Alice revved her engine and started to pull out into the road, motioning that she'd meet me back at her place. I nodded, water dripping off my nose with the motion.

The truck sputtered and protested the whole way back to the Cullen mansion, but ultimately she didn't give out. My hands were slippery against the steering wheel the entire drive, and not because of the rain. I didn't want to see Jasper. Not at all. I didn't want to see the cold look in his eyes again, or his daring smirk. I wasn't prepared for another confrontation with him. The previous night had brought my walls down a fraction, and they took ten times as long to build back up. My mortar was cracked and bricks were loose. It'd been so long, I wasn't even sure I remembered how to build stable foundations anymore.

I pulled into the long driveway and laughed hollowly to myself, remembering each harsh word Jasper had thrown that afternoon. I'm sure he would just lend me his handbook and go through the instructions slowly with me. I might not need to learn from failing this time.

Dry clothes and a hot shower were waiting for me in the guest bedroom as soon as I arrived, and I wasted no time taking advantage. Edward gave me a worried look as I hurried up the stairs, my eyes scattering around the room searching for a cruel look.

I relearnt how to breathe in the shower, and when I descended into the living room half an hour later, most of the tension had left me.

In a moment Edward was beside me. His hands gently gripped my shoulders and I bent my head forward to lean against his chest. In an instant his arms were around me. "I'm sorry," he whispered, as if any of this was his fault. "If he was cruel to you because of how I acted towards him this morning, I'm sorry."

I released a shaky breath and stepped closer to him. It had absolutely nothing to do with him. "It's not your fault his a jackass," I mumbled into his chest.

I felt him shake slightly as he laughed. "What?"

I leant back to look up at him. He was so much more pleasant to look up at. "Don't apologise for Jasper, Edward. You can't always do the stepping-up for him."

I kissed him quickly to stop his expected argument and reached into my back pocket for my phone. "Give me a second. I need to call Charlie to tell him I'll be home for dinner."

"You will?"

"I need some distance." Edward dropped his arms almost instantly and I frowned at him. "Not from you, idiot." I squeezed his hand on my way out the kitchen door and onto the deck.

As the dial tone sounded, I watched with mild horror and confusion as a bright pink car sped down the Cullen driveway and skidded to a halt almost at the base of the stairs to my left. Through the tinted windows I watched as a fair-haired individual in the passenger seat leant over to give a long kiss to the driver.

"Hello?"

I nearly dropped the phone.

"Hello?" Charlie's mild voice drifted from the speaker.

Showing an inexplicable strength of will, I turned away from the horror show and paced to the other end of the deck. "Charlie, hey it's Bella, I wasn't sure if you'd be home from work yet."

"Oh, hey Bells. Yeah, got in ten minutes ago. Is something wrong?"

I looked back over my shoulder as Jasper stepped out of the car. "Yeah. I mean no! No, nothing's wrong. I just wanted to let you know I'll be home for dinner. Can you get the sausages out of the freezer for me so they can thaw?"

"Sure thing, kiddo."

"Thanks, be home soon."

Jasper loped up the stairs, a satisfied smirk curling his lips and I felt bile rise up in my throat.

"No worries. Don't rush on my account, it's raining pretty heavy."

Jasper caught my eye as he opened the kitchen door and gave me a look so cold, so absolutely remote that there had been no other time when his eyes had reminded me so much of ice.

"Don't worry, it won't be on your account at all."

I hung up and followed him inside.

Emmett was standing at the sink staring out the window as the ugly car sped off through the rain, a glowing pink hallow of absolute incredulity. His mouth hung wide open.

Edward smiled apologetically at me before turning on his adopted brother. "Seriously?"

Jasper dropped down into a bar stool at the counter. Leaning back and grinning at the ceiling, I could tell how proud her was of showing off his indiscretions, how excited he was for the results.

I felt sick to my stomach.

"Dude," Emmett laughed, slapping his hand against the glass of the window. "Lauren Mallory? Again?"

Jasper shrugged.

"I thought you were done with fucking her around," Edward said, disapproval radiating from him. He stiffened when Jasper smiled at him. It was a terribly empty smile, and Edward's face darkened.

"Whenever you feel like things have been going good, like things might actually turn out okay for you for once, you always go and screw it up for yourself, Jasper." Edward slammed his hand against the counter in front of Jasper who barely even flinched. "Lauren is always the first symptom to show itself."

"Stop acting like Carlisle," Jasper muttered as he spun leisurely around in his chair, his eyes still on the ceiling.

"I'll stop acting like my father when you stop acting like yours," Edward spat, a heat in his voice that made me take a step back.

Jasper's spinning stopped abruptly and he slowly lowered his eyes to meet Edward's. He smiled a predatory smile. "Watch yourself, brother."

"Stop being so self-deprecating, Jasper. I'm sick of watching you play the part you think you've been allocated. Stop pretending to be such a destructive asshole just because you're father taught you that was the only way to be strong and tough."

Emmett and Rose had slowly been edging closer to the argument unfolding before them, but I could see the wariness in both of their eyes. This was one that was much bigger than normal. Something had changed. I feared it was me. If they destroyed each other, I worried if my name would be jotted down next to cause of death.

"Maybe I just want to live my life and act the way I want to act, Edward. Maybe this is really who I am. Did you ever consider that, huh?" Jasper sprung up from the chair and Emmett jerked forward imperceptibly.

Edward scoffed and crossed his arms. "That's bullshit. This behaviour is an excuse and Lauren is a crutch you keep falling on to prove it."

Jasper grinned, his eyes sparking like sunlight off a falling icicle.

"No, Edward. She's just a crotch I keep falling on to prove to everyone that people care and succumb too easily to others, and if they're oh so willing I won't hesitate to use them as much as I want to."

His eyes cut to me for just a moment, but it was long enough that I caught a glimpse of a crack in his ice, in his mortar and stonework that made me reconsider. Perhaps I didn't want to borrow Jasper's handbook after all.

Long overdue, as I've been duly berated for, I know. I hope you enjoyed the drama and scandal and hopefully much better writing than last year's chapter provided. It's depressing comparing that of this one to the first. Don't do it, please, otherwise you'll just laugh at me. I hope to keep up a more regular flow from now on. No promises though.

-Alarni