Title: Passing The Test
Disclaimer: Not mine O.O just borrowing.
Characters/Pairing: Alice/Jasper
Summary: It's Alice and Jasper's first day in Forks High School. How will they do? Set two years before Bella arrives and before Twilight. (Done by request)
Rating: PG-13

OK, this was sort of requested by one of my lovely, lovely readers: menamcc over on LJ. I'm going to be honest and say that I don't remember what grades all the Cullens are in... and I was too lazy to look it up =O So please, please forgive me if anything is off. I hope you enjoy it, and I hope I wrote it the way you were wanting!

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Passing The Test

1/1

"Just remember," she whispers, patting his hand gently. "It's only seven hours."

Jasper forces the venom he can feel already pooling his mouth back down his throat and stops walking. "Alice, maybe I shouldn't --"

"Come on, Jasper. You want to do this, I know you do. And I see no danger in the immediate future."

"The immediate future... does that cover a seven-hour timespan?"

Alice laughs and takes his face in her hands. "Yes."

They're sitting in the back of Edward's Volvo. The others are standing over by Rosalie's convertible, but Jasper wasn't quite ready to move on. So, Alice stayed with him. All these years with the Cullens, and he's only just now getting to go to school with them. He's only just now comfortable enough to semi-trust his self control…

"I don't think this is a good idea."

"Please, Jasper, have a little faith in yourself. Emmett, Rosalie and Edward have been in Forks before, but it's a new place for me, too, remember? I'm doing this with you."

He takes a deep breath, and steps out of the car after accept a quick and reassuring kiss from Alice. She smooths the wrinkles in her new black skirt, and scowls at a passing senior who eyes Jasper with interest. Upon seeing Alice's face, the girl quickly moves on.

"You have your schedule?"

"Yes, Alice," Jasper says, a hint of exasperation in his voice. "Let's just get the over with."

Alice's first class is literature, and she's thankful she's already read The Odyssey; she's not paying attention to a single word the teacher says. She's worried about Jasper; she thought their homeroom would be together, but his schedule had been changed at the last moment. It wasn't that she had no faith in him, just that... well, anything could set him off.

"Alice?"

"Yes?"

There are a few audible snickers behind her, and she pokes her lip out. The teacher peers at her over her glasses. "I asked if you could read the next passage."

"Er......"

"Be on spot next time, Miss Cullen, yes? Halfway down page thirty-six."

Alice scoots forward in her seat and, sheepishly, turns three pages over. "Sorry," she mumbles.

* * *

When Jasper agreed to try and go to school, he didn't think he'd be agreeing to sit through a part of his past all over again. He thought he'd enjoy History class, and all it had to offer. Until he learned they'd be starting with American History from the Civil War era.

He closes his eyes as the projector bounces from slide to slide, alternating between photographs of soldiers and legal documents. For one bizarre moment, he thinks he sees himself up there and it's enough to make him slide down in his seat a little. He copies the notes quickly, and his shoulders stiffen as the student behind him gets up to sharpen her pencil.

Gripping the edge of the desk, his mind jumps between keeping himself from reaching out and snatching her and keeping himself from breaking the edge of the wood off.

"Mister Hale?"

His eyes fly open. "Sir?"

"What's your opinion on the argument?"

He has no idea what the argument is, but he is very good at improvising. He loosens his grip on the desk, closes his eyes once more and takes a slow breath. Then, he says, "I think people have to understand that it wasn't just about anti-slavery and pro-slavery. It was about being told what you could and couldn't do in a country that was built on a base of supposed freedom; being given orders about what to do with your own family and your own land didn't sit well with most of the South."

A few people had turned around to gawk at him, and the teacher looks a little stunned because no one has ever given such an elaborate answer in this class.

"...But that's just my opinion," Jasper adds quickly.

"And a very interesting opinion it is..." the teacher said.

They spend the rest of the class engaged in debate, and some of the other students even get into heated discussions about morality issues. When they leave, the sense of accomplishment seeping from the teacher makes Jasper grin slightly. Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea.

* * *

Alice hurries through the hallway, squeezing her tiny frame through large bodies and, once or twice, even ducking to the floor and crawling between feet. The shouts of "fight!" and "get him!" are all she hears and only one question runs through her mind: Where is Jasper?

She hasn't seen him all day; they don't even have lunch hour together. She was relieved to find out, though, that his coincided with Edward's. He even had a few classes with Rosalie; he wasn't completely alone. Alice scowls when she meets a block of human bodies that she can't get past without climbing over the lockers. That was not an option.

"Hey, you're the new Cullen girl, aren't you? Alice?"

"...Yes?"

"I'm Jessica... freshman, are you? Like me?"

"Er, yes. I am. D'you know who's fighting?"

"Nope. Hey, so the Hale twins, they're like... you're adopted siblings, right? You're Edward and Emmett's little sister?"

Alice wrinkles her nose. She hates trying to remember how their family is supposed to be set up. "Yes, I'm their sister. Jasper and Rosalie aren't related to us."

"Is that why you and Jasper were so...close this morning? Outside in the parking lot?"

She shoots a look at Jessica. "What?"

"Oh, it's cool. I mean, whatever floats your boat. Besides, like you said, you're not related. I was just curious."

Alice turns her attention back to the crowd and attempts to tiptoe and peep over some shoulders. No luck.

"First day and people are already talking. Must be rough."

She sighs, another scowl crossing her face. "People are talking?"

"Well, you know. Adopted siblings who are obviously together..."

Alice knows Rosalie and Emmett are that obvious, but she's surprised that people are talking about her and Jasper. "I... really don't think it's anyone's business."

Jessica's eyebrows shoot up. "Oh, no. S'just... you know, Mike thinks you're kinda cute."

"Mike?"

"Newton."

"Don't know him."

"Well, I told him I'd find out if you were with anybody. Like Jasper, 'cause you kinda seem that way. Like I said; the parking lot."

"Oh." Alice tiptoes again.

"...So are you?"

Giving up, she turns and finally looks Jessica square in the eye. "Am I what?"

"You know. With Jasper, like, with Jasper."

"We're together," Alice said, folding her arms. "Does that answer your question?"

"Oh," Jessica says, forming her mouth around the word dramatically. "Well, I hope he hasn't said anything to Jasper, then."

"What?"

"He said he was gonna ask."

Oh dear, Alice thinks. I really should find him...

* * *

"Jasper!"

After the final bell of the day rang, Alice had hurried to be the first one out of class so that she could actually see the hallway. Being four-foot-eleven was hell. Her quickness, though, had paid off. She spotted Jasper and Emmett standing at Rosalie's locker at the other end of the hall.

She trotted to them and wrapped her arms around Jasper's waist, squeezing him into a rather tight hug. She ignored Jessica and Mike as they passed by with their eyes practically glued to them.

"Alice, I'm supposed to be the one on pins and needles," Jasper says.

"I know, but there was a fight earlier and --"

"And you thought I'd gone and ripped someone to shreds?"

She hates to admit it. "Sorry."

Emmett chuckles, then makes an odd face and jumps forward when Rosalie appears behind him; she'd pinched his bum. "Hi, kids," she says with a large grin. "How was your first day in Forks High?"

Alice bounces on her toes a little. "I like it."

"I don't know," Jasper says quietly. "I'll have to give it a while, though I think I'll ace my quiz on the Civil War next Friday."

They share a laugh, and head outside to meet Edward in the parking lot.

"Emmett," Rosalie says as they exit the school, "I think you're going to have to give someone a good talking to. I've been whistled at by the same person twice today."

Jasper shakes his head as Emmett demands to know the name of the person, and drapes an arm loosely around Alice's shoulders. "Thank you," he says.

"For?"

"Talking me into this. I don't feel like such a hermit anymore."

"Jasper, you were never a hermit."

"Well, such an anti-social person, then."

"You're still anti-social," Rosalie calls over her shoulder.

Jasper scowls, and Alice laughs because despite them giving him a hard time, she knows what he means. "And thank you for agreeing to it. ...D'you want me to see what I can do about getting my homeroom changed to History?"

He looks down at her and grins. "Do something about that lunch hour, too."