Ten

~Tate's POV~ It's the next day and I'm still smiling from ear to ear. Last night was great. Especially me realizing my true feelings for Jasper. I barely know the guy, yet I bared my soul to him.

      The pain in my foot is completely gone and the pain in my ribs is barely there. The coloration has disappeared. My fingers feel normal again too. Its like in healing faster than I should. I go downstairs to dad and say, "Can you call Carlisle and see if he can check me today?" He asks, "Already?" I nod, smiling, "I'm feeling a lot better." He looks surprised but says, "U-uh, sure, will do." I smile and tell Bella, "Bella, come on! We gotta go!" I rush outside and wait impatiently by the car.

      I'm so happy about so many things. We get to the school and I look around, looking for Jasper, but he's nowhere to be seen. I turn back to where Bella is supposed to be, but she's not here anymore. I look and see her figure at the edge of the woods, going in. What is she doing? I'm about to walk to her when someone holds my shoulder, keeping me back. I turn around and face Jasper. I smile, "Hey!" He has a weird face so I ask, "What's wrong?"

He says, nervous and what seems like afraid, "We need to talk later today." I look confused, "O-okay." The bell rings and I groan, looking back at the woods. He says, "Let me walk you to class." I nod, smiling. He puts his arm around my shoulders which pleasantly surprises me. One thing that comes to my mind....Bella had better know what she's doing.

LATER

People wouldn't stop staring and whispering about me and Jasper and the only thing I care about is the fact that I haven't seen Bella all day. I've been calling, but I'm just sent straight to her voicemail, which is extremely worrisome. It's lunch time and Jasper is sitting with me. He inquiries, "What's wrong? Something's been on your mind; you're worried." I say, "I'm not completely sure. I don't even think that I have a need to be worried, I just...I just am." He asks again, "What is it?" I say, "Bella. I haven't seen her all day and this morning I saw her going into the woods." He says, "I'm sure she's alright." I just look at him for a second, nodding and smiling.

He says, smiling, "Try to relax." He's right. I just need to relax. She's alright and everything is going to be okay. It's not like she's gone into the woods and not come back for hours. She's smart enough to avoid big scary creatures that could tear her apart in two seconds. I take a deep breath and Jasper puts his hand on my arm comfortingly. I go to reach for it, but he retracts it. Weird, but I'll ignore it for now...

AFTER SCHOOL

It's time to go and Bella finally comes back at the end of the day. I'm about to go to her when Jasper asks, "What time are you available tonight?" I say, "I should be free after my check up." He asks, "Check up?" I nod, "Yea, your dad is checking up on me when I get home. My dad told me. I'm feeling a lot better, and it seems like I'm healing quickly so he's going to be checking up and making sure that everything is okay." He nods and suggests, "Why don't I come over, that way I can talk to you after?" I just nod and he walks over to his family and their two cars.

I rush over to Bella and she asks nonchalantly, something on her mind, "Are you ready to go?" I hit her in the arm. She cries out and holds the spot where I hit her, "What was that for?" I reply, "What were you thinking?! You walk into the woods and don't come back for hours and refuse to answer any of my calls or texts!" She shrugs, "I'm sorry, I was just..." I ask, "Just?" She shakes her head, "Nothing." I ask, "What?" She says, opening her door, "We should get going." Is she serious? I get in and say, "You're lucky that I need to be home." She gives me a look and we go home.

We get home and Carlisle is in the living room with dad, a bag on the table. They turn around and I smile at them while Bella goes upstairs. Another car pulls up and there's a knock. I open it and see Jasper. I close the door behind him and say to both of them, "He's here for me after the check up, it won't be too long." My dad nods and Carlisle says, "I'll need some privacy with Tate now." They nod and both him and Jasper leaves.

I walk over to the couch and he eyes me. He asks, "You don't have a limp anymore?" I shake my head, "That's why I wanted to see you. It's like It's not sprained anymore. Like nothing ever happened." He looks confused and says, "Sit down, please." I nod and do as he says. Once I sit down, he very carefully takes me shoe and my sock off, revealing the gauze surrounding my foot. He takes it off and it looks like a regular foot.

He puts pressure on it and flexes it at every angle he can. He asks, "Does that not hurt?" I shake my head and he asks, "Can you lift your shirt for me?" I nod and comply. I lift it where the bruise is and it's all but healed. He puts pressure on it and says, "Alright, and let me see your eyes." I put my shirt down and he does the thing where I follow his finger with the light shinning in my eyes.

After a few seconds, he stops and looks confused. I ask, "What is it?" My dad says from behind him, "What's wrong?" He stands up and turns around, facing dad. I stand up and he says, "I'm not sure." Dad asks, "You're not sure? All due respect, you're a doctor." I ask, "Is there ANY way to explain it?" He says, "Not perfectly." Me and my dad stand in front of him, equally confused. He says, "It's EXTREMELY rare with barely any cases that it has happened, but it seems that you're daughter is healing at an unprecedented rate. There isn't even a name for it. There isn't much study for it that I know of, but apparently it's something in the blood stream - genetic."

He continues, "It makes everything else seem faster as well, pregnancy, heart rate. That's why when she was first admitted after the accident, her heart rate was higher and faster than normal." I ask, "Exactly how many other people have this, whatever it is?" He says, "From what I know? 10..." Wow...so now I'm a freak? Am I some sort of alien? He says, "If you'll excuse me, I would like to go home and do more research on it, try and come up with some answers." Dad nods and Carlisle leaves in a hurry. Is it really that serious? Dad says, shaking his head in confusion, "I gotta call your mom." He leaves and I'm stuck here, frozen.

Jasper comes in, being careful as he approaches me. He asks, "Are you okay?" I continue staring straight forward, not looking at anything in particular, "Yep. Just found out that I'm some unique bio-freak, but I'm okay." He just looks at me and I look him in the eyes, "You wanted to talk about something?" He shakes his head, "No, we can talk about that another day." I touch his arm, "I wanna talk about it now. Come on. We can...we can go to my room." He nods and we walk up there. He closes the door behind him and says, "I think you should sit."

I ask, complying to his request, "Jasper, what's wrong?" He takes a deep breath, beginning to panic, "There's not exactly an easy way to say this, but...." I ask, "What is it?" I get up, walking over to him. He looks me right in the eyes, "I'm a vampire." I search his eyes for something, ANYTHING, telling me that this was a joke, but I saw only seriousness. I immediately start laughing. It's what I usually do as a reaction to things that either stress me out or leave me confused.

He keeps his straight face and I ask, "You're serious?" He just continues looking at me. I say, "No offense, Jasper, but how am I supposed to believe that? I-I mean, vampires AREN'T real. They're just in stories." He says, "I can assure you, darlin'. They're very real." I just continue looking at him. I say, "Prove it to me. Right now. Show me that you're an actual vampire." He says, "Go to the door." I do as he says and he instructs, "Don't blink, and don't move." I nod and looks at the window. What is he up to?"

Suddenly, there was a gust of wind that caused my hair to fling around. The window is open and I see Jasper on the tree a little far away. He comes back not even a second later. I think of the word speed. He says, "I can lift up your bed with one hand." He walks over and does exactly that. Strength. He lifts his sleeve, revealing many bite scars, "Touch my arm." I touch it and feel the same kind of cold that is on his hands. Cold-skinned. Does this mean that Esme is too? And the rest of his family? But then...Bella. Does she know? I start shaking my head, in denial.

I start laughing nervously. I run my hand through my hair, "I can't believe this. This-this isn't happening." I say, "Why are you only telling me now?" He asks, "Because I love you." I know the feeling...it's only been a short time and I feel like I'm in Romeo and Juliet...

I say, "That means that Edward is one too. I have to tell Bella." He says, "She already knows." I look confused and he explains, "That's where she was today. He told us on our way here that he told her. She accepted him. Can you do the same?" I just look at him and start tearing up. I say, "I need a little bit of time to think." He just nods and leaves. He's a vampire? Jasper Hale and the Cullen's are FREAKING VAMPIRES! How is this possible?! WHY is this possible?! Does this mean that werewolves exits too? Questions start ping ponging in my head.

THAT NIGHT

I'm sitting on my bed, laying down, and holding the phone in my hand, staring at it. Should I take more time to think? Is this the right decision? How will this impact my life? I take a deep breath, my legs to my chest, and listen to the phone as the numbers dial; Alice gave me his number a few days ago. After about two rings, he picks up, "Hello?" I ask, "Jasper?" He asks, "Tate?" I say, "Yes, I can accept it." I smile to myself and I feel like I can feel or see him smiling right now. For the rest of the night we just talk on the phone. I'm pretty sure I fell asleep sometime after a few hours and I couldn't be happier. I am inexplicably and irrevocably in love with Jasper Hale...