Hey everyone, new and returning readers alike. I'm sorry if this chapter is slow, but I still think it's interesting and I'm much happier with it than I was with my initial draft. I must warn you that things do get pretty disturbing later in the story, though probably nothing that would faze the people who read the older version.

The concept and plot are very similar, though there are some minor key changes. I decided I did not want to have Jasper and Alice as a couple in the beginning, and there's some very lightly implied EdwardxAlice. Jasper's split personality development is a bit more gradual, and there are themes of reincarnation. Still, what my reviewers seem to find interesting in the old reviews is left intact and improved.

"Are we seriously still doing this? Can't we just pretend we're homeschooled or something? This is bullshit."

"Emmett, you know better. "

I listened to the Cullens from my bedroom; well, overheard them. I could hear just about everything for miles around, but my hearing usually tuned itself on whatever I didn't want to hear. Seemed like getting lost in thought, along with many other things I'd taken for granted, was a luxury reserved for humans.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciated what they were trying to do for me, but I knew where this conversation was headed.

"Maybe you could join the football team." I could even hear the crooked smirk in Edward's voice.

"Yeah, sure. I already get accused of using steroids. Seriously, I'm sick of hanging around kids all day just to look a little more normal. It's not working."

"It's not for you, idiot," There it was. Rosalie made some attempt at a whisper, but it didn't do much good when I could hear even the slight thud of her elbow meeting his side, "it's to help-"

"Everyone." Esme chimed in softly, but with enough of her quiet strength to break up the argument, "it's to help everyone get used to being around humans."

She must have realized I was listening, even involuntarily. It was impossible to tell by looking at them, and I wasn't about to risk having to share too much of my own story by asking, but I believed Esme had been the oldest when she was made into a vampire. She was probably the most considerate; maybe even more so than Carlisle. Though all vampires' minds worked faster and more efficiently than they had when they were human, the immaturity of the younger Cullens had stayed with them. Frozen in time as teenagers, no matter how long they lived or how noble their lifestyle was. The brain, after all is as physical as any other part of the body. I knew that especially well. I'd seen the human brain many times, as just another organ strewn across the floor. Collateral damage.

I wondered where that left me. Esme reminded me of my own mother, though I think anyone who'd had a decent one would say the same.

"Wise beyond your years, I don't know what's made you so very serious…you're so mature, Jasper, really…"

Word's they'd both said, though Esme's reprise had lacked the sorrowful undertones in my mother's version.

"I can't believe this is happening…you're already a man, though I wish you'd stayed my child for just a little longer…"

It felt like I was hearing things. Something I wanted to hear even less than the sympathy of my adopted family.

"Just come back to me…just as you are now. Promise me, Jasper."

I only nodded. Even then, I hadn't spoken much. I was often told I never showed my emotions. Some of my friends believed I didn't have them; ironic, now but not then.

My silence didn't seem to trouble her, though I'm not sure anything could have made her any more upset than she already was. She hugged me, grabbing the worn material of my second hand uniform and adding tearstains to fabric's abuse. I let her for what seemed to me to be a long time, but I had another goodbye to say, one somehow even more than my mother's.

I couldn't help but agree with Emmett. Although I did have an easier time suppressing my instincts around humans since attending school, it seemed to be the riskiest environment for building my tolerance.

"I believe in you, Jasper. You'll do the right thing."

It didn't help that they all seemed particularly agitated today. Aside from the physical effect it had on the pulse, heightened emotions only caught my predator side's attention.

"Maybe we should have stayed home today." Edward sounded serious and while I didn't appreciate the monitoring of my thoughts, he was right. I was in a bad place today. My memories were bothering me more than usual and had been all night. I don't know why he didn't say anything earlier.

Usually, my respect for humans was enough to help me keep my urges in check. Unlike Edward seemed to, I didn't look down my nose at them. These ones, especially, were only children after all. It didn't sit right with me when he complained about them being immature or vapid when they were a fraction of his age. He could be a real ass sometimes.

Though, maybe, respect was the wrong word. Still, it was a principle that had been instilled in me long ago, one I had disregarded for a very long time. I was determined not to forget again.

"Maybe if we put it back in the nest, the mama bird will find it and take care of it again." My little sister pointed to the structure in the tree with her free hand; her other was cradling the impossibly small egg she'd found on the ground, miraculously intact.

I watched her strain to reach it, tiny fingers stretching as far as they could as if they'd make any difference. "I can't reach!"

I don't remember how old I was exactly, but she could not have been more than six. I wasn't much older but I was already stronger and taller than the rest of our friends. I sighed but I plucked the egg from her hand. I thought I was gentle, but as soon as it left her grasp and reached mine the shell shattered as if I'd been making every effort to crush it. Her eyes, the same color as the robin egg I'd broken, widened and she ran back towards our house as quickly as her short legs would allow. Her wailing echoed through the trees. I'll never forget the look on her face.

By the time the school bell pierced my thoughts, Edward's expression had relaxed.

"I told you it'd be alright," Alice, my favorite of the Cullen 'children', reminded him as she tangled her small, nimble fingers in his hair. He sighed, relaxing and closing his eyes for a moment.

Emmett reminded me which class that bell was signaling for us to go to and we pretended to head that way until we were out of Rosalie's sight. Instead, we wandered the campus lazily and easily avoided any questioning humans.

"We should have made our whole schedule up this way," Emmett grinned, "just show up for lunch every day you know? We could have probably gone to get some real lunch while the others read Little Women for the billionth time."

I smirked, amused at Emmett's choice of books to reference even though the concept of a 'real lunch' was troubling me now. A small, burning voice in the back of my head wanted to remind me what a real meal was. Animal blood was garbage in comparison. It was a good thing Edward wasn't around. Instead, I tried to focus on Emmett's good natured ramblings as gory memories tried their best to get my attention.

The memories, Emmett's words, or anything else didn't stand a chance. We turned a corner when I detected it. A faint trace of scent, a trail that was fortunately too cold for me to come unhinged and follow it; to become a force too fast and too experienced a murderer for any of the Cullen children to stop. Instead, I grappled with myself and froze on the spot. Emmett questioned me and even grabbed my shoulder but I couldn't tell what he was saying.

"I have to go."