Haha! Still not dead. ^^

Sorry about the wait. I'm just really, really not punctual. At all.

Anyways, enjoy the next chapter! A bit of development :)

Crush

The bell rang for lunch, and Alex hurried out of English class to be sure to get to the Cafeteria first. He knew that Edward couldn't read his mind, but that didn't mean that the guy wasn't perceptive. He'd have to start laying around clues that the vampire hadn't caught onto yet, so that later, the Plan wouldn't fall apart around him. That was not something he looked forwards to, for various reasons.

Stupid vampire was fast, though. He dumped Bella almost two days after meeting him; although, to be fair, it was clear that he wasn't really happy with her at all since before he'd met Alex. And, even so, apparently the crush was a bit stronger than Alex had realized at first. He rolled his eyes and bit back a grin as a group of teens looked at him weirdly, and he hurried into the Cafeteria. There were only about 5 people, but Alex knew that in a minute or so it would be filled to the brim with hungry students. Quickly, he sought out a relatively pretty girl and went up to her with a grin on his lips. As he approached, he wondered if the Cullens would walk in in time to see his performance; otherwise it would be a waste of time.

She turned once he was almost right next to her.

"Hi, I'm Alex," he said, dulling his eyes so they wouldn't be quite so startlingly red. The girl smiled at him, flirting, and Alex had to bite back a grimace. He wasn't attracted to girls in that way, after all, and this faking made a part inside him die a little.

"Hi, I'm Amy. You're new here, right?"

Alex had to bite back the duh that threatened to spring, but then from behind he sensed that the Cullens had just entered the room. He smiled, making sure to make it seem like he hadn't even noticed them. He was actually hoping that Jasper would tune into him, though; he was rather enjoying the Plan, and that might translate to him enjoying talking to the girl in Jasper's mind. He tried to feel bad for using Jasper in such a way, but it only made the voice in his head laugh harder.

"Yeah, I am. Actually, I'm just a bit lost, and you seem like the friendly type." He could almost feel Edward finally tuning into the conversation, and purposely added the thinly veiled flirt just to torture him. The vampire's unease was obvious, even when he wasn't even looking at him at all.

He had hurt Alex, even if he didn't know it. He deserved to suffer a bit, too.

The girl batted her eyelashes at him, and Alex had to shift a bit to keep from dropping the façade. This was hard. No pun intended. At all. He smiled and leaned to his side a bit so that he was minutely closer to the girl.

Suddenly, he heard a shout behind him and he turned rapidly, all senses alert for any kind of threat. He found that his right hand was raised in front of him on instinct, as if he were holding a wand, and quickly dropped it, changing his stance to one that spoke less of war and more of surprise. It all happened so fast, that the girl only saw him jump as if startled.

"Woah! You totally just jumped!"

But Alex ignored her. Another shout and a shrill screech brought his eyes over to the Cullen table, where the vampires were being accosted by Bella and two of her friends, a girl and a guy. Bella was standing quietly and glaring at Edward, and the girl was screeching to him about how he was so mean, and so stupid, and so cruel to have led on Bella, and the guy was just as hysterical. Alex suspected that the guy actually had a crush on Bella and that was why he was so startled and angry. Unless he was gay. But he didn't quite seem the type.

"How dare you leave Bella just like that? There was no explanation! You just got bored of her, huh? You found some other pretty girl? Not cool enough for you, huh?"

Alex seriously wanted to go and strangle the girl. He didn't particularly care much for Edward at this point, but by Merlin, she was so annoying.

He turned to the girl—Kany? Amy? Yeah, that was it—and smiled apologetically.

"It seems that my friends are getting screamed at, I'd better go help them."

She smiled back, a bit surprised and yet still batting her eyes. "You're friends with the Cullens? Wow. That's so amazing!"

Alex grinned at her. "Of course I am." Don't gag, don't gag.

Then, he went up to the table and sat down right beside Jasper, who was looking rather put out by the whole screaming thing and who seemed to rather be in pain. He looked surprised at Alex when he sat down, obviously not having sensed him coming up, and then frowned minutely; then, Alex waved his hand and suddenly Jasper couldn't feel Bella's group's emotions anymore. He looked at Alex with wonder, who shrugged.

"I'll explain later," he said under his breath, and Jasper nodded minutely, sending him a subtle smile in gratitude. In front of him, Edward was sitting with his jaw clenched tight and his eyes flashing in anger, but Alex had the distinct impression that Bella's group wasn't too aware. He wondered if Jasper was feeling pain from Edward too, and quickly asked the blonde, who nodded. He then waved his hand and Edwards emotions were blocked as well. Jasper let out a barely visible sigh of relief.

Bella, meanwhile, had noticed Alex and was now glaring viciously at him and Alex noted that she had been crying. A small part inside him twitched with the tiniest expression of guilt, but it was quickly eradicated by Tom's presence.

-It's not my fault vampy likes me. If it were up to me, in fact, he wouldn't.

He shot Bella an annoyed glare, and she quickly averted her eyes, a twitch of fear apparent in them. Then, finally feeling that the tirade had gone on long enough, he shot the girl and the boy a glare which was laden with a weaker form of Imperius, which really only worked on muggles; they shot Edward one more huffing glare and marched away, all righteous anger. He let out a sigh of relief and let go of the rough magic web he'd rapidly constructed around Jasper, letting the blonde feel the group's emotions again as well as Edwards. The blonde twitched minutely and Alex knew that Edward's anger had not dissipated. Suddenly, the brunette, turned and pinned down Alex with a glare so intense that it actually cause him to flinch.

-Woah, did I kill his favourite puppy and didn't know it? …I better have, to deserve that glare.

"What was that?" Alex said as calmly as he could, trying his best not to start glaring at Edward in return. He'd gotten the impression before that the vampire didn't really care for Bella in that way, and was actually quite annoyed at her. Perhaps the level of their voices?

Edward's eyes narrowed on Alex further, who was starting to get annoyed at the vampire's silence. Alice, who until then had been sitting surprisingly quiet on Jasper's other side, suddenly leaned forward and prodded Edward.

"Ok, stop glaring at him. He didn't do anything. And besides, it's not his fault, you know. It's…kinda yours." She glanced at Alex vaguely, who suddenly had the urge to bang his head against the wall.

-I'd forgotten about Alice's little…gift.

Alex knew that Alice could see possible futures depending on each person's intent; the conversation with Edward and the one with Jasper had cemented that; which meant that, since Edward was feeling…attraction for him, she could see them together in one future. However, if Alex go this way (Not now, karma) then no such thing would happen. Her sight must be rather confused, he was certain.

Edward, for his part, had managed to tone down his glare a little and he no longer looked like he wanted to burn Alex into a crisp. Jasper suddenly pushed his elbow lightly into Alex's ribs and moved his head, signalling the courtyard. Alex nodded, and they both stood and walked outside, the rest of the silent Cullen's eyes trailing after them. Once outside and away from their eyes, Alex rounded on Jasper. He had enough presence of mind to cast a Silencing charm before he spoke, however; he wasn't sure just how sensitive each vampire's hearing was. Then, praying it would work without a wand, he once again placed a blanket of magic against Jasper's mind. Before it had been easier, when he'd blocked out Edward and Bella's emotions, since he was only blocking from the outside; now, wondered if it would work to create a faux-wall for Jasper's memories from Edward, at least for now. To keep Edward out for a long while would have to involve Jasper making his own walls, since Alex's barriers were rather fragile and experimental. Emotions were easier to block than thoughts, after all.

Jasper twitched as he felt the barrier against his mind, but didn't question, guessing what Alex's intent was. He nodded to show that he was okay with it, and Alex felt bad for a moment for not asking. A mind was a private place, especially so to Alex; it was partly the reason Edward's prying annoyed him so much, and partly because he had few morals still, but he was very solid on them. One of them was that the mind remained in the user's head. Edward couldn't do anything about his own ability, so he couldn't get exactly mad at the vampire; but that still didn't stop him from wanting privacy.

"What was that? He looked like he wanted me dead." Alex snapped at Jasper, who nodded calmly. The blonde knew that Alex's annoyance came from the other vampire's hostility and was not aimed at him. He could also understand that Alex wasn't actually mad at Edward's hostility, but at the apparent lack of reason for it; Jasper noted that the boy had probably been victim of many stereotypes, and stored the information away in the little box in his mind where he kept his most private memories, and was the only place which he could purposely keep Edward out of, when necessary.

"He didn't want to you dead, per se. He was just annoyed at your choice of company;" he stopped then, lifting an eyebrow at Alex, who attempted to look confused. He wasn't sure he'd succeeded, partly because of Jasper's expression of amusement, and partly at the blonde's special ability. "Then Bella came up with her friends and began spitting idiocies at him," he said, curling his lip, and Alex's own anger faltered at the blonde's amused disgust. He grinned.

"Well, poor girl. She just got dumped," he said, shrugging, and the blonde gave him a startled glance before letting out a laugh.

"Certainly, she did." Then the blonde gestured to the dinner building. "Shall we go back in?"

Alex grinned at Jasper's almost unconscious old-time speech. "We shall. Lead the way, my gallant knight!"

Jasper laughed again as Alex suddenly grabbed into his arm, tripping every now and then as if he were a princess with a disability and randomly spouting out "Oh, pretty day, isn't it, my knight?", "Oh, you are so brave my knight!" as they went back in. Right before entering, Alex took away the spells from Jasper and himself, not noticing in his rare happiness that the spell around Jasper's mind had a hole in it as his magic dissolved. Once inside they went back to the Cullen group, who was taking between themselves. Alex look around for a moment before frowning.

"Where's Edward?"

Alice turned to him and shrugged, a playful glint in her eyes.

"I don't know. He just stood up a few seconds after you and Jasper went out and stomped out into the hall. It was rather funny; I've never seen him stomp before," she said, looking thoughtfully towards the doors. Rosalie shot him an annoyed glare –as if it were my fault!—and even Emmet glanced worriedly at the door.

-I'm so going to regret this later.

He stood with a longsuffering sigh and waved his hand. "I'll go find him and see what's making him so PMS-y." He turned and walked out the cafeteria. "He better be pregnant or something, with the way he'd acting," he muttered.

He walked a while on the hall before sensing Edward's magical creature presence outside near the entrance tables. There were 10 minutes left in lunch still, he knew, and decided that he might as well talk it out with the vampire now.

-So should I go forward with the Plan? He reacted rather…surprisingly to the first part alone.

Alex shook his head, seeing Edward leaning against the wall. His posture was stiff but the incredible anger from before was missing and Alex approached him with uneasiness. I should probably lay off for a while.

Before he could say anything, however, Edward turned to him and, so fast that Alex barely saw a blur, was suddenly right beside him. Alex had to bite back his instincts to keep his magic from stabbing the vampire and snarled.

"Don't do that! I could have killed you!" he snapped. Edward smirked sardonically.

"But you didn't, did you?"

"Stop acting like a spoiled brat!" Alex said, reigning in his anger. "I refuse to have you venting unreasonable anger on me when I've barely met you for a day." Among other things. "So now, spill."

Edward turned away, annoyed. "Don't pretend you don't know, Alex. It was quite obvious."

Alex's eyebrow raised, his expression amused and annoyed but calm; inside however, Tom was laughing.

-If this is what I think it is, I'm in more trouble than I thought.

"I thought you were the one who broke up with Bella?"

Edward snorted and turned back to Alex, and Alex suddenly felt a sharp prodding in his mind. He shoved back angrily, but knowing that the vampire was simply showing his displeasure, not actually trying to get into his mind.

"Obviously."

"Then…?"

"Then you were ignoring me completely! I think it's quite hypocritical to first be so angry at me for no reason I could see and then bitching at me for actually having a reason! Do you think it was nice to first have me being so stressed over this new powerful individual who I don't know about and could possibly be a threat to me? Then we start to become friends and I start to trust you and…and suddenly you push me away completely! What was I supposed to do? Especially when you were talking to that sl—" the vampire quickly bit on his tongue to keep himself from continuing, looking flustered and surprised at himself. Alex hissed in annoyance at the cut-off admission. Damn.

They stood in silence for a moment, both completely aware of the other, before Alex ran a hand through his hair, breaking the tension. Edward sighed.

"Lets go back inside, lunch is about to end," Alex said, turning and walking back inside. His arm, however, was quickly grabbed by Edward's.

"This…we have to talk."

Alex didn't reply, but gently took away his arm, knowing that Edward was too gentlemanly to retain him.

-Too bad that he's not gentlemanly enough to retain his emotions as well, he thought.

TBC-