In the mall

July 3rd, Midday
Food court

'Why'd we move to this town in the middle of nowhere?' Laura thought while taking a sip of her soda. 'Oh come now, Laura! It's not TOO out of the way!' 'What, are you stupid? We needed to drive an HOUR to get here! If Spoons isn't out of the way, than what is? The MOON?' 'Forks.' 'What?' 'The town is called Forks.' 'Oh, now I'm disappointed. I thought you'd finally gone insane.' "WOULD YOU GUYS JUST SHUT UP?!" Laura snapped, silencing the voices, but at the same time the entire food court. "Oh god dammit... not again..." she muttered to herself and attempted to leave her table nonchalantly and find a secluded place with her thoughts.

'Guys, I can't believe you made me do that! You made me look like a complete schizo in there!' 'Well, technically, you are one.' 'I hate all of you...' Laura looked around to see where she was, which was in one of the maintenance closets. 'Ok, which one of you picked the lock?' 'Actually, it was open. Makes you weep for public safety, eh?' 'I'm still waiting for the guy who goes ape sh!t with a mop and plunger, actually.' 'You would... What should I do? I probably go to school with some of these people!' 'Do you honestly think that anybody here is going to remember what happened for more than a week?' 'Yeah, I guess you're right.' Laura smiled and was about to step right out of the closet, but thought twice about it for fear of smacking someone in the face. She opened it slightly and looked around to see if the coast was clear. It was, so she stepped out and began wandering the halls of the mall.

"Oh come on, Jazz, this'll be fun!" Alice smiled at her glowering boyfriend. "Now quit being such an emo and help me pick out some shoes."

With that, she tugged him into the nearest shoe store and began looking over their selection of high heels. 'God, I hate being short,' she thought as she began picking out some high heels.

Alice went over to a nearby bench and began to put the shoes on. Standing up five inches taller than she originally was, she smiled at Jasper, "What do you think?"

"Oh come on, Jazz, this'll be fun!"

Jasper grimaced. Shopping with Alice was rarely fun, especially shoe shopping. 'I can't wait till school opens again, then we won't be shopping every freaking day,' he grinned triumphantly to himself.

"Now quit being such an emo and help me pick out some shoes."

An emo? Really? He'd felt emotions from emo kids before, and between that and the vampire battles, he'd rather go through the battles than feel what an emo feels. Alice of all people should know that calling him an emo hurt.

She tugged him into the nearest shoe store and began looking over their selection of high heels.

He sighed to himself. Shoe shopping bored Jasper stiff, but he knew Alice would make it worth it afterwards. He smiled to himself, keeping that in mind as he watched the pixie vampire try on some scary looking red stilettos and turned to him, "What do you think?"

He looked down at her, grinning, "Well, it does make it easier to kiss you. Other than that, they look wonderful on you."

Jasper tried to say these words meaningfully, but then again, everything looked good on Alice, and she knew that. Sometimes he wondered why Alice didn't just buy the whole freaking mall.

'Ok... Looks like the coast is clear... Nobody is noticing me... I hope...' Laura was walking around, keeping one eye over her shoulder.' 'Not that YOU see, but I spy with my little eye.... Someone staring~!' "Gahk!" She looked around and saw no one staring at, or even noticing, her. 'Logan, you're a bitch....' 'Ain't I just?' Laura rolled her eyes and continued to look for a shop that suited her fancy. 'Hey, shoes... Should we go?' 'Sure.' 'Thanks, guys!' And with that, she entered the shoe store. 'BUT. Buy me a cute pair of tennies, k?' "Got it!" She accidentally said out loud. 'Crap.... not again....' and she hastily made her way to the sneaker section.

He looked down at her, grinning, "Well, it does make it easier to kiss you. Other than that, they look wonderful on you."

"Honestly, Jasper, is that all you think about?" Alice chided gently. "And thank you."

She looked around the store, people watching for a few seconds before, "Hey, she looks new. What do you think?"

'Huh, I've never seen her before, maybe she's new around here. Carlisle did say new people were coming into town nowadays,' Alice thought before noticing Jasper's expression. "Calm down Jazz, you won't hurt her."

"Honestly, Jasper, is that all you think about?" Alice chided gently. "And thank you."

Jasper smiled sheepishly, "Anytime, angel."

He watched his wife people watch for a moment before she noticed a new girl, "Hey, she looks new. What do you think?"

"I think we're going to stay right where we are and we are not going to make nice," he told her. He knew all too well of Alice's tendencies to be friends with everyone, which sometimes ended up...badly. He mentally shuddered as he remembered the Taylor/Specter fiasco and vowed to never let Alice get so emotionally involved with another human. And he was thirsty, and unsure of whether or not he could maintain his self-control.

"Calm down Jazz, you won't hurt her."

They both knew she was right, but Jasper was unwilling to take any chances. "Let's just go, Al. I'm thirsty, this was a bad idea."

'Hey, guys. Status report. Any staring?' Laura attempted to keep her mind occupied with shoes, but this was a just in case sort of thing. 'Behind is clear.' 'Left is ok.' 'Right is... I would say red alert, but that might just scare you.' "WHA?!" Laura started frantically looking around and to her right she saw two people, a male and female. Granted, they weren't staring at her but it still scared her to the point of making her hide behind a shelving unit. 'You do know that this isn't the way to get people to like or not stare at you, right?' 'You can just shut up...'

Alice broke her gaze from the new person to look at Jasper. "I'd say you're fine, and you won't hurt anyone, but I know you'd just decide to kill someone to make us leave."

She looked back over at the chick and saw she was gone and asked curiously, "Where'd she go?"

'Oh, there she is,' Alice noticed her behind a shelf. 'Maybe Jasper and I scared her somehow? But how?'

She glanced apologetically at Jasper and headed closer to the new girl, pretending to be interested in a pair of tennis shoes. "Whatcha think, Jazz?"

"I'd say you're fine, and you won't hurt anyone, but I know you'd just decide to kill someone to make us leave."

Jasper grinned at Alice's accusation, "You know me so well."

"Where'd she go?"

He groaned inwardly, "Alice, why do you care? I thought we learned a lesson after the Council tried offing us?"

Unable to help himself, Jasper also looked over at the girl. 'Wow, she has self-esteem issues,' he noted as he was attacked by a mix of fear and self-consciousness.

She glanced apologetically at Jasper and headed closer to the new girl, pretending to be interested in a pair of tennis shoes. "Whatcha think, Jazz?"

He let a near-silent growl out as Alice began walking away from him. "I think we should leave. And I know what you're up to. Do you want the Council after us again?"

Laura heard the rhythmic sound of foot steps coming towards her hiding place. 'Oh crap... what do I do?' 'Was that a rhetorical question, or...?' 'Rhetorical, thank you very much.' 'Do you know what you're going to do, or does one of us need to take over?' "Just give me a second, I'll think of something." She gasped, realizing that the slight safety of her spot may have been compromised.

"I think we should leave. And I know what you're up to. Do you want the Council after us again?"

"What do you mean, Jasper?" Alice looked up at him innocently. "I'm not up to anything. Can't a girl shop without having ulterior motives?"

'He's right, I should probably leave,' she said to herself as she began to walk back to Jasper, then stopped herself and began to walk back to the shelf. 'But why is she hiding?'

She began to walk back to Jasper, then stopped herself and began to walk back to the shelf.

"Alice, I swear to God-" Jasper began, then stopped, completely aware that he couldn't do anything to Alice to hurt her. 'Damn.'

He followed Alice, not wanting her to leave his sight for fear that she might do something to endanger herself. "Alice? What are you doing? If she wants to hide from us, let her. Isn't this how the Taylor fiasco started?"

'Craaappp.... Drawing a blank...' 'You know what? You're thinking too slow. I know what I want, and I'm going to get it.' Logan took control of Laura's body and grabbed the one pair of shoes she could stand, the pair of tennis shoes, and started on her way to the register. 'I hate you sometimes....'

Alice watched the girl go over to the register, wondering what she was thinking. 'She's awful peculiar.'

Jasper walked up to her, looking pissed, "Alice, what are you doing?"

"Nothing, Jazz," she replied smoothly, removing her gaze from the girl to Jasper, then began walking out of the store. "Let's go."

"Alice..." she didn't listen to him, and tried walking out the door, forgetting she was still wearing the high heels. She tripped the alarm, and pivoted gracefully to find Jasper with her shoes and the shoe box the heels had come in. "Thanks, love."

"You're welcome," he responded as he watched Alice change her shoes. "Are you going to buy them?"

"No," Alice shook her head, "I already have a pair of these, I don't need another."

Jasper stared at Alice, amazed. Alice going into a store and not buying a thing? He pressed his hand to her forehead, pretending to feel for fever. "Who are you and what have you done with Alice?"

"Jaaaaaaasper," she pushed his hand off her forehead, giggling, "I'm not a total shopaholic."

Still, she looked around, seeing if anyone was staring at her for tripping the alarm.

"Thank you ma'am. That will be $35.82." "Awesome." Logan handed the money to the cashier and began on her way out of the store. 'Awesome? That's half my money, poof, gone!' 'Your point?' 'YOU didn't make that money! I DID.' 'Look, since we all share this body and mind, we need to have some say in what you buy! Right guys?' 'Hey, don't get me involved in this.' 'Ok, fine. Luna?' 'As long as she gets some good mythology books, I'm good.' 'You guys are no fun...'

"I don't think that many people noticed," Jasper said quietly as he took Alice's arm and began leading her out of the store. "And stop staring, it's rude."

"Sorry Jazz, I can't help it. There's just something about her," Alice sheepishly tore her gaze from the girl. "Wanna go get some books?"

"I thought you'd never ask," Jasper grinned. Despite his dislike of shopping, he always loved to visit the bookstore, there was always something good to read there.

'Alright, where to next?' 'I already said I want books!' 'But.... Dear crap you're hyper today... You never said you wanted to go to the book store. You just said as long as we got some books, you'd be happy.' 'And I want books now! So, sorry Logan, but you're out of the drivers seat!' Luna took control of the body and started out of the store. "Book store, book store, la la la la la!" She hummed to herself as she started walking down the hall of the store, then suddenly stopped. 'What's wrong? I thought you wanted to go to the book store.' "I... don't know where it is...!" Luna laughed nervously. 'Luna, you are a piece of work...'

"She looks lost," Alice murmured as Jasper led her to the bookstore.

"Hm?"

"The girl from the shoe store, she's lost," Alice replied calmly.

"No, Alice," Jasper said firmly. "We are not going to help her."

"Why not?" she pouted.

"What would you do? Go up to her and say, 'Hi, I'm Alice, you look helplessly lost?'" he asked, smirking, but Alice was already on the move towards the girl, pulling Jasper along behind her.

"Hi, you look lost, want help?" Alice asked the girl as Jasper rolled his eyes in frustration. Sometimes Alice meant well, but her good deeds were so annoying when they were detaining him from books.

"Neh? Oh, yeah, thanks. I'm looking for the book store but... I don't know where it is!" 'Hey, wasn't that the girl who was staring at us?' 'Ohhh crap... I think it was...' 'What's the big deal? She's not looking at us weird, so what reason do you have to be freaking out?' 'Because she's just trying to be nice! I know people like that just talk about you behind your back!' 'Laura, calm down! She's being friendly now, so why are you judgmental all of the sudden?' 'Seriously, just calm down. We don't need you hyperventilating in here.'

"We were just going there, too," Alice smiled, took the girl's hand, and started walking, leading her to the bookstore. "So, you're new around here. Cool! Where are you from?"

Jasper mentally sighed as he trailed behind Alice, trying to use the Force to shut her up. He could sense the girl was uncomfortable, and why not? She was being toted around by a vampire. Not like she knew the petite girl tugging her to the bookstore was a vampire.

He leaned over to mutter in the girl's ear, "I'm so sorry, forgive Alice. She's a major people person, her insanity is from force of habit."

"Well, I'm from Texas. Houston area, actually." Luna smiled. 'Something doesn't seem right about her...' 'I know! Isn't it awesome?' 'I guess...' "My name's Luna!" 'Should someone do something? Those two are hyper enough to cause some sort of damage.' 'I don't feel like it.' 'Me neither. Besides, Luna doesn't get out much. Just let her have some fun!' 'Augh... fine.' Logan was clearly unhappy with this turn of circumstances, but she got a new pair of shoes so she was silenced. For now.

'Houston?' Alice asked in her head as she glanced back at Jasper, who smiled at her and nodded fractionally.

"I'm Alice, and this is Jasper," she replied as she nudged Jasper playfully. "What brings you all the way up to Forks?"

'Maybe you two could be friends,' Alice thought to Jasper. True, Jasper couldn't read minds like Edward could, but he knew Alice so well he could guess.

"No," he whispered almost silently.

Alice was disappointed, but she understood his reasons, and turned her attention back to the girl.

"My dad got a transfer. He works for the government; Environmental Sciences." Luna said. "He studies how different species of animals are living in places, etc." 'I can't help but notice how you didn't mention his work on preserving the Red Wolf community.' 'They don't seem like dog people, you know?'

"Oh really? Sounds awesome," Alice smiled, for she loved animals. "What kind of animals is he going to observe in Forks? Forks is kind of ordinary..."

Jasper could feel the happiness coming off Alice and smiled inwardly. "Maybe the Olympic wolf, Al. They're unique, are they not?"

'Like Jacob and Sam,' he mentally chuckled at the thought of nature freaks observing the two werewolves. 'Bitch nature freaks would be dead.'

"Well, you never know! Even the smallest squirrel helps the environment!" 'Hey, maybe they ARE dog people.' 'Right... if they weren't that Jasper guy wouldn't have brought up the wolfs.' Luna thought for a moment. "Well, if there are wolves up near here, my dad would be pretty good with them. He made some huge ground with the Red Wolves back in Texas. They're endangered, ya know."