"So," Jessica says as she uncaps the whiteboard marker, "What have we learned?"

They've gathered in Bella's room because Jessica's parents are having a date night (which Jessica is more than happy to clear the house for), and Lauren's house is currently overrun by a horde of relatives in town for her younger brother's recital performance. The whiteboard belongs to Lauren, and she'd been all too willing to offer it up when she learned what they'd be talking about.

"Well, for one, Alice Cullen doesn't know the meaning of subtlety," Lauren says dryly.

Jessica flicks the cap of the marker at her.

"Other than that."

Bella sighs gustily from where she's starfished across her bed. When Jessica and Lauren look over, she pushes herself up and starts counting off on her fingers.

"One, the Cullen family is beautiful to the point of being uncanny, and they're all beautiful in the exact same way. Two, their eyes change colors-"

"Wait, hold up," Lauren says, incredulous, "Are you serious?"

"It's true," Jessica tells her with a sympathetic smile, "It happens in a pattern. For a couple days, Edward's eyes will be almost goldish-

"Ochre," Bella interjects sullenly.

"-and a few days later they'll be completely black."

"That's some magical girl bullshit, and I am not here for it," Lauren says, crossing her arms across her chest and sticking her nose in the air.

"It doesn't matter if you're 'here for it.' It's happening." Lauren and Jessica exchange a startled look at the almost angry tone of Bella's voice, and the other girl sighs. "Sorry, I guess I'm just frustrated. I've been having weird dreams about all this stuff, and it feels like I should know what's happening already."

Lauren doesn't respond except for the way her cool gaze softens just a little as she stares Bella down, so Jessica takes it upon herself to continue listing all the weird shit that they've noticed, writing it down on the whiteboard in her lap as she goes.

"Three, Edward Cullen is superhumanly fast and strong, and it's fair to assume the rest of his family is the same way. Four, before Bella said even a word to him, he looked ready to murder her and then every other person in the room."

She leaves out the part where she's reasonably certain something she did is what calmed him down.

"Five," Lauren says after a pause, "Whatever their secret is, Edward's willing to gaslight you guys to keep you from figuring it out."

At that, Bella's posture straightens, and she gets an offended look on her face.

"I wouldn't call it gaslighting," she says.

"I don't know," Jessica says, "That's kinda what it felt like."

They sit in silence for a moment, pondering the implications.

"Are you still sure this is the guy you want to go to the dance with?" Lauren asks her dryly.

Jessica glares.

Bella watches them with a grin on her face, but soon enough she clears her throat, and the tension in the room drains away. Once she's certain she has their attention, she says, "There's also that comment about vampires to consider."

Another pause, one which Lauren is all too happy to shatter.

"Maybe the Cullens are vampires," she says, doing her best impression of the campy supernatural investigators they always end up watching at sleepovers.

Jessica leans forward so she can grab one of the decorative pillows from Bella's bed and uses it to smack Lauren in the face.

"Don't be ridiculous," she says as the other girl pouts and runs her fingers through her hair to smooth it back down. "Vampires don't exist."

"You literally told me that you think their whole family is something supernatural, like, days ago."

"Well, yeah, obviously. But, vampires?" She turns to Bella for aid, and the other girl shrugs.

"It is a little far-fetched," she says.

"Well, what's your theory, then?" Lauren asks.

"I don't know," Jessica admits. At Lauren's triumphant look, she hurries to continue. "But if they were vampires, don't you think there'd be reports of people going missing all the time? I mean, if they were vampires, they'd have to get the blood they're drinking from somewhere."

"I guess," Lauren says, unsatisfied but not able to refute that point.

They carefully don't bring up the reports of dead bodies from the weekend. It's getting much too dark outside for that kind of talk.

Finally, with an unspoken agreement that their theorizing is over for tonight, they set the whiteboard aside.

They spend the rest of the night studying, so by the time Jessica heads back home, she's done with almost all of her homework. Good thing, too, she thinks, because it's late enough that all she wants to do is curl up in her bed and read the book Tyler gave her a few weeks ago. Ever since she first made him read the Harry Potter series years ago, they've been trading back and forth. While she's been pushing fantasy and the occasional non-fiction, he's been doing his best to get her hooked on sci-fi and true crime. It's been moderately successful.

She's looking over her shoulder, just to check that she didn't leave anything at Bella's house, when she sees something white and vaguely person shaped out of the corner of her eye.

Slamming on the break, she turns her head forward so fast it almost hurts and winces when her car jerks to a halt.

For a long moment, she just sits there, her hands shaking on the wheel as she does her best to breathe through the rush of leftover panic. She could have sworn there was someone standing by (or on?) the road, but when she looks, squinting to see into the darkness beyond the weak beam of her headlights, there's nothing there. Her mom has been telling her to get her headlights replaced for weeks, now. Maybe, Jessica thinks as her pulse beats rapidly against the skin of her throat, she should actually listen.

The street she's on is full of houses, yellow light peeking through a curtain here or there, but there's no one outside. Further up the road, she can see streetlights casting an orange glow.

Her phone buzzes, and Jessica all but jumps out of her seat.

It's Lauren, letting them know she made it home.

With a slightly hysterical laugh, Jessica relaxes her hold on the wheel. She forces herself to take a deep breath and hold it before letting it out slowly. There's nothing out there.

It's just her mind playing tricks on her.

She's in Forks, after all; there's nothing to be afraid of.

Forcing another laugh, this one much less stressed, she eases her foot off the break.

As her heart rate settles back to normal, she flicks the radio on and slowly picks up speed until she's driving normally again. Though she keeps a sharp eye on her surroundings, she doesn't see anything else the whole way home. By the time she pulls up to park in front of her house, she's almost relaxed. In fact, it's not until she's got her keys clutched in one hand, jagged end poking between her fingers even though she knows it's actually useless as a weapon, sitting in a dark car on a dark street, that she begins to feel uneasy again.

Keeping the doors locked for now, she reaches back to grab her bag out of the back seat.

A dark shadow moves across the road behind her and she freezes, a startled yelp dying in her throat. Then, the shadow scurries closer, into the light of the nearest streetlight, and she huffs, annoyed with herself.

It's just a cat. That's all.

Rolling her eyes, Jessica shoves the door open and stands, pulling her bag over one shoulder. She closes the car door with more force than necessary and locks it, tossing her hair over her shoulder as she does so. The light in the kitchen is on, a sure sign that her mom has decided to wait up for her even though tonight was supposed to be about her and Rick. With a sigh, she cuts through the lawn to her front door with even strides, not speeding up even when she wants to.

Once she gets inside, she stands in the doorway and stares out into the darkness one last time.

When she sees nothing looking back at her, she scowls at her own absurd behavior and shuts the door with a heavy thud, clicking the deadbolt in place.

After toeing her shoes off, she makes her way to kitchen, but it's not her mom waiting for her.

"Rick?" she asks, surprised.

The man is hunched over the counter, his head in his hands as he listens to whoever's on the phone he's got clutched in one hand, knuckles white. At the sound of her voice, he looks up, and some of the stress in his expression falls away.

"Hey, Jess," he says tiredly. To whoever he's talking to, he says, "Listen, I've got to go. There's nothing to be done for now, so I'll catch up with you in the morning."

"What's wrong?" Jessica asks as she drops her bag onto the floor and hops up onto a stool to face him across the counter. "You seem awfully upset for a man who's been keeping my mom company all night."

"Oh, wow." Her stepdad rubs a hand over his eyes. "Please don't say it like that. It sounds weird."

Jessica laughs at him.

"Seriously, though," she says, grabbing a bowl of blueberries that's been left out and pulling it closer to her, "What's up?"

"You remember those bodies I told you about?" Jessica nods. "Well, they found more. Children, this time."

"Oh." She shudders.

"Yeah. They weren't able to identify them, not yet." He wrings his hands. "Maybe in the morning…"

"I'm sorry," she says.

"So am I. My buddy was part of the group the found the new bodies, and he's pretty shaken by it. He called me as soon as he could..." His voice trails off. Then, shaking his head, he stands taller and says, "But this isn't something you need to hear. How was your night? Can I get you anything?"

That's the thing about Rick. Whenever he's feeling upset, he gets it in his head that he needs to work double time at making sure everyone around him is provided for. It's sweet, but, sometimes, like tonight, she just wishes he'd take care of himself first.

"No, I'm good." She pushes the blueberries his way. "Eat something, then go back upstairs."

With a small smile, he does as she says.

Once he's eaten his fill, he sighs and says, "I hope I don't wake your mom when I go back up."

"Oh, please," Jessica says as she rolls her eyes, "You've been living with us for years, now. We both know she wouldn't wake if I crashed my car through the living room." She fixes him with a stern look. One she learned from him, actually. "You're stalling, that's all."

Her stepdad sighs again.

"When'd you get so smart?" he asks.

"I've always been smart." That makes him smile again. "Go to bed. Don't you have a fieldtrip to run tomorrow?"

"I certainly do," he says with a laugh. He comes around the counter and wraps her into a one armed hug, pressing a kiss to her mane of hair. "Goodnight, kid. Sweet dreams."

"Goodnight," she says in return, watching him as he heads upstairs, yawning as he goes.

When she's certain he's not coming back down, she lets herself lean forward against the counter and a frown stretches across her face. On top of her discussion with Bella and Lauren, as well as whatever the fuck it was that she saw on her drive home, the news that more bodies were found today is more than enough to ensure she'll have bad dreams tonight.

It's gonna be super.

…

The first thing Lauren does when she sees Jessica the next morning is press a hand to her forehead.

"Wow, thanks," Jessica says, "I'm happy to know I look like shit today."

"You don't look like shit," Lauren says with an annoyed frown as she takes Jessica's arm and leads her to their classroom. "You look tired. When did you go to bed last night?"

"I don't know," Jessica says with a sigh, "I kept waking up. Nightmares."

Lauren tsks.

"That's too bad," she says. "What about?"

"Vampires," Jessica says dryly, and she isn't even lying.

"Yikes," Lauren says with a grimace.

"I know. Rick heard about some more bodies that were found last night. Children this time."

"Drained of blood?" Lauren asks.

"Yep."

A passing freshman gives them a weird look as he overhears their conversation, and Jessica glares at him. Flushing, the boy ducks his head and hurries away.

"Wow," Lauren says, and she sounds almost impressed, "I haven't seen that in a while. I almost thought you'd lost your edge."

"My edge?" Jessica asks, genuinely confused, "What are you talking about?"

"Y'know." Lauren gestures vaguely. "That thing you do where you glare at a person and they completely shit themselves. It's surprisingly effective, considering how small you are."

"Wow. Rude." She screws up her face in thought. "Also, what? I don't do that."

"Tell that to the freshman who just saw his life flash before his eyes."

Jessica scoffs. "You're ridiculous."

"Mhmm." Lauren smiles. "And you're scary. It's adorable."

Before Jessica can reply, Lauren has dragged them into their classroom where Mr. Jefferson is already seated at his desk in the corner. Which means she can't swear at her the way she wants to. By the smirk on Lauren's face, she's certain her friend planned it that way.

With an annoyed huff, Jessica extracts herself from her friend's hold and marches toward her desk with her head held high. Lauren is still laughing at her, but at least she's doing it quietly.

…

When Edward sees her later that morning, he actually does a double take.

"What's wrong?" he demands, voice colored by way more concern than her appearance actually warrants. She'd ducked into a bathroom after gov just to check, and, honestly, she doesn't even look that tired. Her friends are just being dramatic. As per usual.

Ignoring him with her usual aplomb, she drops into her seat.

"Hello to you, too," she says as she digs through her backpack to grab her notebook and the worksheet they were supposed to complete last night.

Edward sighs at her, but when he gets the hint that she isn't going to answer him until he minds his manners, he grudgingly says, "Good morning."

Jessica rewards him with a sunny smile that's only sixty percent fake.

"To answer your question," she says cheerfully, "I didn't sleep very well last night."

"Oh." He looks surprised. "Well. I'm sorry to hear that."

Jessica snorts. Sometimes, when she manages to annoy or startle him enough, he seems almost human, but he always manages to ruin it eventually by slipping back into formality. She doesn't mind it, though. It's just another thing that sets him apart. Plus, it can be entertaining, especially when she gets the chance to see other people get tripped up by the change whenever the rare occasion comes along where they're forced to work in groups of more than two.

"Thanks," she finally says, "It wasn't that bad, honestly. It just meant that I got up for my run earlier than usual."

"You run every morning?" Edward asks, sounding impressed. "Is that normal?"

Jessica laughs. She can't help it.

What an odd question.

"Normal?" She thinks of the time Angela joined her one morning, only to swear off running forever, and grins. "I guess not. It's not that strange, though. Loads of people do it. It's actually really nice."

Her only regret is that Tyler isn't cleared to join her until his ankle heals, though he did say he'll be back in school tomorrow. Without him, her runs are almost too quiet, the only sound being the crunch of her shoes against the packed path and the slide of snowflakes brushing against each other in the wind.

"You should try it," she says, "You've got the build for it."

"Me?" Edward smiles like he has a secret. Because he does. "Oh, no, I couldn't. I'm not much of an athlete, you see."

What a liar.

"You're so full of shit," she tells him, and she's actually a little impressed at his willingness to spew such bullshit right to her face.

Even if she didn't know for a fact that he can cross the parking lot fast enough to not even be seen doing it, Edward is one of those lucky bastards who never seems to lose muscle definition, even though she's never seen him exercising. Then again, his family is loaded, so they probably have more than enough money to have a home gym.

In response, Edward smiles, as charming as ever. Like a total asshole, he's also been blessed with perfect teeth, because of course. As she looks at him, she thinks bitterly that he probably never had to wear braces. She wore them for a whole two years when she was younger, and she's never going back.

His smile shifts, then, until it's full on crooked, and it's unfair that even this seeming imperfection looks good on him. Ugh. Whatever.

"Don't smile at me, asshole," she says with her best attempt at a stern glare. She has a feeling it's not very effective, though, because she can feel herself starting to smile back at him. She can't help it. "I'm onto you."

"You can't tell," he says, and she just knows he's trying not to laugh when he looks away and plays at straightening the materials on his desk, "but I promise I'm very intimidated."

"Good," she says primly as she also turns to look forward, determined not to look at him lest she give in to the butterflies that are rising in her chest, "You should be."

Finally, he breaks, and his laughter spills into the air, just as lovely as the rest of him.

As the rest of the class turns to look at them, Jessica bites back a smile and sits up straight, meeting their questioning eyes head on. She's not gonna lie; she could get used to this kind of attention.

…

At the end of class, Mr. Collins breaks from his usual rhythm to inform the class that they'll be working on a partner paper for their next project. He doesn't assign partners this time, but Jessica turns to Edward anyway, not even bothering to wait for anyone else. First of all, she doubts anyone else would work up the courage to ask him. But also, she just really wants to work with him.

"Partners?" she asks.

"Hmm. I don't know…" Edward pretends to think about it, just to bother her, and Jessica scowls. Just as she's getting ready to ask someone else out of spite, he grins and leans into her space. "Of course I'll be your partner."

"Well, good," she says, crossing her arms and doing her best not to pout.

"Good," Edward echoes, and his smile softens.

Once everyone has their partners approved by Mr. Collins, their teacher dismisses them, and Edward once more decides to accompany her to her next class. She considers telling him that he doesn't have to walk with her every day just because they're going to the dance together, but she likes it too much to risk him stopping. They've been walking in companionable silence for a minute or so when Edward clears his throat.

"I'd like to apologize in advance," he says out of the blue.

"Um. Okay?" She peeks up at him and is surprised to see he's actually frowning. "For what?"

"Alice has decided that she wants to sit with you during lunch again."

"Oh." She laughs. "Is that all? I thought-"

"That's not why I'm apologizing," he says, cutting her off in a move that's surprisingly rude. Jessica stops walking, and it takes another step for him to notice. When he does, he turns to look down at her. "She's probably going to bring Jasper with her."

Oh. Well.

Now she gets why he's apologizing.

As she considers what to say in response, she decides not to tell him about the running debate over whether or not Jasper Hale is a serial killer. She also decides not to tell him that almost the entire school is in on it. She especially decides not to tell him which side of the debate she falls on. He probably wouldn't appreciate it.

"You don't need to let her," Edward tells her with a grimace. "If you said no, she'd probably listen."

"Probably?" she asks. Edward shrugs. "Well, okay, I guess. I don't have a problem with it."

"I'm glad," he says, "I could have asked her not to bother you, but, well. She's told me repeatedly that I'm not responsible for her behavior and therefore need to keep my big nose out of her business."

"You don't have a big nose," Jessica says absently as they start walking again.

"I don't think that's the point," he says with a huff of laughter.

Jessica just shrugs.

As they're about to turn the last corner before the door of her next class, she feels Edward freeze beside her. By the time she looks up to see his face, he's relaxed again, but she doesn't miss the way his eyes are darkening as he takes a deep, careful breath.

"Edward?" she asks, moving to stand in front of him.

"It's nothing," he says absently, "I just keep forgetting…" His gaze focuses on her, and he clears his throat as he takes a step back. "It's nothing," he says again, firmer this time, "I promise. I'll see you in bio."

That said, he smiles crookedly before turning sharply on his heel to walk in the other direction.

Jessica watches him go, half worried and half even more determined than before to figure him out. When she finally turns the corner to see Bella hovering by the classroom door, most likely waiting for her, she decides that she has another observation to add to their list.

…

When Alice does in fact bring Jasper with her to their table at the beginning of lunch, Jessica almost manages to convince herself that everything will be fine. For the first five minutes, no one says anything weird, too busy chatting about whatever nonsense is on the docket today. While Mike and Eric are occasionally a little bit too obvious in their staring, her absurdly hot (but also intimidating) boyfriend's presence seems to keep them in line. Furthermore, Alice is cheerful enough that she blazes right on through any moments of awkwardness that are inspired by having not only a Cullen but also Jasper Hale at their table.

It's a trait Jessica can appreciate in a person, and she decides then and there that she'd like it if she and the other girl became friends.

Suddenly, Alice turns to beam at her, and while she'd previously doubted that anyone except Rosalie Hale could challenge Edward for the title of most attractive family member, she has to admit that Alice might be a contender after all. From the look on Bella's face, she's willing to bet the other girl has just had the same revelation.

Just when she thought that the whole lunch period might pass without incident, however, Lauren decides to throw a grenade into the conversation. She leans forward from where she sits beside Mike and, before Jessica can even attempt to predict what she might say, she speaks.

"You know, just because your brother wants to fuck our friend doesn't mean you need to sit with us."

Silence falls over the table.

Jessica chokes on the bite of an apple she's just taken.

"Oh my god, Lauren!" She grabs for her water bottle and turns to glare at her friend, but Lauren just smiles innocently. Jessica doesn't believe that expression for a second. Before she can say anything about it, however, Alice decides to respond.

"He doesn't want to fuck her," she says, scrunching up her nose at the word. "He-"

"Well, why not?" Lauren demands.

Jasper looks as if he wants to kill everyone at the table and then himself. Jessica would be happy to join him.

The rest of the table is watching with expressions that range between utter glee (Mike) and obvious discomfort (everyone else).

"I mean, I'm sure he does." Alice turns to look Jessica's way and presses a comforting hand over hers. "I'm sure anyone would be happy to, uh- you know. I mean, I-" She gets a faraway look in her eyes and cuts off with a cough. "Um. Never mind. I'm just saying, that's not all he wants."

Lauren raises an eyebrow, obviously preparing to cause even more trouble.

"I'm sorry." Jessica interrupts before she can. "Was there a point to this?"

"No," Lauren tells her, "I just wanted to see what Cullen would say."

Alice frowns at her. Jasper just looks… like himself.

"Alright, cool," Jessica says. It's so totally not cool, but she's heard it's against school rules to murder your best friend in the cafeteria. "Now that we've got the hazing out of the way, can we talk like normal people? Or is that too much to ask?"

Lauren shrugs as if she isn't the problem here.

Thankfully, Angela decides to take pity upon her and mention the upcoming guest speaker in the optional ecology class she's chosen to take this term. While Lauren spends the rest of lunch casting speculative looks Alice's way, she doesn't start anything else. Jasper stays tense, only relaxing with Alice reaches over to hold his hand midway through the conversation, but Jessica doesn't let it bother her. She's pretty sure that's just his natural state.

…

"I'm going to kill Lauren," Jessica announces when she walks into the bio classroom to see Edward already sitting at his workbench. She hops up to sit on the table beside him and crosses her legs. "I figured you should know, seeing as you're my friend now and I might need you to provide an alibi. Also your family is weird."

"That's too bad," he says, not even trying to sound as if he's taking her seriously. "To be fair, I did warn you."

He looks up and smiles charmingly, and she smiles back as she feels a blush spread across her cheeks. God, she's so pathetic. Whatever. She can work through this.

"Oh, please," she says, flipping her hair over her shoulder, "You're weird as fuck too. At least Alice is nice to me."

"Is that so?" He leans forward and peers up at her, resting his chin on his palm as his elbow presses against her thigh.

"Yep. In fact, I think I might go to the girls' choice dance with her instead." She does her best to keep a straight face and manages it quite brilliantly. Edward, however, fails. He presses a hand to his mouth to try to muffle a laugh.

"Really," he says dryly, though the smile that lingers in his eyes gives him away.

"Do you think she'd say yes?" she asks, doing her best impression of genuine interest. Edward snorts rudely.

"I think she'd be ecstatic." He shakes his head. "She certainly wouldn't let me forget it. Ever."

Jessica laughs at him.

"Anyway," she says before she's even decided exactly what she's about to say. He watches her with open curiosity. "Since we have to work together on our next paper, I was wondering if you'd like to get together sometime? You know, just to work on it?"

She hasn't even started the reading for it yet, but she wouldn't mind doing that together either.

Edward smiles.

"Sure," he says, "I'd love to."

"Cool," she says, smiling back at him, "Would you wanna come over to my place sometime this week? My stepdad will be around, but he won't bother us."

"I would," Edward tells her, "That sounds perfect."

"Cool," Jessica says. Again.

"Cool," Edward echoes with a teasing, crooked smile. And then he drops a bomb that she thinks she'll need days to recover from: "It's a date."

AN: Surprise!

To everyone who's still reading this fic years later, and to any new readers out there, thank you so much and I hope you enjoyed this latest chapter :))

I was on the fence about continuing this so long after my last update, but in the spirit of the Twilight Renaissance, I figured why the fuck not. Plus, this fic is super fun to write and it's a nice break from all the work I'm actually supposed to be doing. I've also updated the previous chapters because after two years, there were some changes that needed to be made. I think I fixed everything up, but if you notice any glaring continuity or grammar issues, feel free to let me know.

Here's a quick life update for anyone interested: I'll be done with undergrad in like… three weeks, and I just submitted my seat deposit for law school next year, so it's a stressful but also super exciting time!

(Finally, how would y'all feel about a title change? I'm not set on changing it, but I'm also not against the idea)