"Trusting you is my decisions, proving me right is your choice."

-Unknown

***

"This is going to be amazing!" Alice cried, twirling me around her "party setting." I grinned at my friends over-excitement. hey, I was excited too, this was my first birthday when I have actually had more than one friend to celebrate with.

"I know!"

"Wow, Al, you really out did yourself." Sadie noted, looking around the Cullen's house in awe. She had recently re-done her hair, so that blue streaks mix in with the pink. She has gotten comfortable with the Cullen's, and takes pride in teaching Emmett weird games that she always wins in.

"It looks like we might accidentally set the house on fire." Jasper joked, slinging his cold arm around my shoulder. I grinned, leaning into his side.

"We will not!" Alice defended, looking somewhat offended at the observation. "We will not accidentally set the house of fire."

Sadie giggled drifted over to wrap her arms around Alice's waist and lean her head on her shoulder. "We trust you, Allie."

"No we don't." I whispered to Jasper, knowing full well that Alice could hear. She reached over to chuck a pillow at me, but my boyfriend grabbed it before it could make contact, we both stuck our tongues out at the pixie-like vampire.

"You're right, if we set the house on fire, it will be on purpose!" Emmett said from the corner of the room. Since he can't annoy me at school anymore, he has made it his life mission to annoy me endlessly. I returned the favor by repeating what his teachers said about him during graduation.

"Hey Em! You always work well with others!"

"Shut up!"

"Oh! They're coming!" Esme grinned, holding her small wrapped gift in her hands. Carlisle grinned down at his excited wife.

"Bella's totally gonna fall down those stairs." I muttered under my breath, and most of the Cullen's hummed in agreement. Edward and my sister made themselves known, and I could immediately see Bella sigh when she saw Alice's over-the-top decorating skills. I giggled at her expression when we made eye-contact.

"Sorry about all this." Carlisle began, though he was smiling as he clasped Bella's hands. "We tried to rein Alice in."

"As if it were possible." Esme gently hugged my sister. "Happy birthday, Bella."

I chuckled, remembering what happened when the Cullen's wished me a happy birthday. Emmett almost killed me by picking me up and spinning me around until Jasper began to get stressed out. Rosalie just hugged me like a normal person, Sadie started wrapping the happy birthday song, Alice dragged me up to her room to gush over my necklace and dress me. Carlisle also hugged me like a normal person, and Esme kissed both of my cheeks like we were in Paris.

Alice snapped a photo with the camera she had stolen from me previously. Bella whirled around in surprise.

"Courtney lent it to me, Mind?"

Bella pursed her lips and shook her head.

"Dating an older woman." Emmett teased, "hot."

I bent leaned over so I could laugh into Jasper's side. He scoffed a little himself.

"Presents!" Alice cried, grabbing Sadie's hand and dragging her over to the pile in the corner. I rolled my eyes, grinning nothingness, as Sadie just followed long with the same amount of enthusiasm. They truly were perfect for each other.

"Court, why don't you leave Jasper's side for three seconds so we can give you presents." Emmett said, and I pouted, but obliged, jogging over to Bella and bumping her shoulder with my own.

"Rosalie, you first!" Alice grinned, handing the blonde a small box. Rose rolled her eyes, handing me the box and making a point to glare at Bella. "They're earrings, Alice and Sadie picked them out."

I giggled at her bluntness, while Bella seemed to not know how to respond.

"Show me the sisterly love!" Alice cried, and I flashed the camera the biggest smile I could muster, while Bella probably looked like she was in pain.

"This one is from Emmett." She handed me a large box, and I looked up to give Emmett a grin, shaking the empty-box. "Wow, safe to say this is the best present I have ever gotten."

A chorus of laughter ran through the room as Emmett gave me his signature lop-sided grin. "Already installed it in your truck, finally a decent sound system in that piece of-"

"Hey, don't hate on the truck!" Bella defended, and we shared a look.

"Open Esme and Carlisle's!" Alice urged, handing Bella the slim box.

"Just a little something to brighten your day."

"Yeah, you've been looking a little pale recently."

Bella gave me a confused look, and I shrugged, indicating that I did not know what it was.

Bella slid her finger under the wrapping paper, and recoiled immediately. "Ow," A small bead of blood ran down her finger, an I could immediately feel my entire posture stiffen. "Paper cut."

All hell broke loose.

Alice turned and grabbed Sadie's arm, shoving her into an opposite room and locking the door. Edward basically tackled Bella into a table, and I just stood there like an idiot, trying to process what just happened.

That's when I felt a heavy pressure on my side, and I fell to the ground.

"Get him off!" I heard Alice yell, and it dawned on me what just happened. Jasper was on top of me, but he wasn't... he was just shaking slightly and burying his face in my hair.

"No!" I yelled, holding out my hand from under my heavy, cold, vampire prison. "No! It's okay! It's okay!"

"I can't." I heard Jasper mutter, and I couldn't figure out if he was talking to me or himself.

"Hey, it's okay." I cooed, sort of like I was talking to a child, and ran my fingers through his blond locks. "It's okay, you're okay. Bella's okay, she's fine."

"To the balcony." I heard Carlisle whisper, and I nodded.

"Jazz, you gotta stand up. We're going outside."

I felt the weight shift, and then disappear as Jasper climbed off of me. I followed suit, brushing off my shirt and looking over his shoulder at Bella, who had scarlet red blood running down her arm.

"Okay, just look at me." I urged, swallowing slightly when he looked up. His eyes were black. Literally, black. Like, darker then Bella's hair.

"Let's go." I grabbed his hand, and pulled him out until we were on the balcony, the cold wind whipped at my skin, but I barely noticed. What I did notice however, was how he immediately was at the opposite side of the balcony. I felt my entire gaze soften. "Jazz-"

"Don't." His face screwed up in an expression similar to the one I had seen the day I met him. "Don't, don't come closer."

"Jasper it's okay." I completely ignored him, and walked forward so I could grab his bicep. "It's totally fine. You know I'm not scared, you know I have no reason too."

He kept his eyes closed, so I reached over to slide my finger under his chin, "Look at me."

He slowly opened his eyes, the darkness of his eyes not even surprising me this time. He seemed to relax slightly. "See? I wish I could manipulate your emotions. But you can feel mine. And you know that you have never given me a reason to not trust you. That includes today. Okay? I love you, and nothing can change that."

The door of the balcony burst open, and Emmett bounded out, his lips quirked up in an easy-going smile. "Yo! Let's go hunt-tang!"

"You're weird." I noted, turning and gently kissing Jasper's cheek. "Go, I'll probably be at home if you need me."

Jasper nodded once, still not talking, and then with one last fleeting glance, the two jumped the balcony and disappeared into the woods.

***

It was sometime the next night that a knock on the door woke me up. I blinked once drowsily, throwing my covers off and yawning. I figured it would just be Bella getting home, but when I opened the door, I was surprised.

"Hey." I rubbed my tired eyes once, fully aware that I was in my pajamas and probably looked like crap. "What's up, Alice?"

Alice looked distraught. She actually looked perfect as usual, but her golden eyes were sad.

"We-" Her voice caught once, and she shook her head. "We're leaving."

"Where are we going?" I asked, my sleepy, disoriented state not quite processing the words. "I am kind of, like, sleeping so-"

"No. We're leaving. My family."

"What?" My face dropped, ad my heartbeat increased slightly. "For how long?"

Alice looked down like she couldn't bear to see my face. "Forever."

I froze. I swear in that exact moment, my heart stopped beating and my lungs stopped breathing in the air surrounding me. My next words came out small and strangled. "What?"

"We have too!" Alice cried, her face looking like she wanted to cry, but she couldn't. I was suddenly finding it very difficult to breath. "We cant stay here, Courtney, we just can't!"

"Yes you can!" I cried, my voice rising with slight hysteria. "You said that we were a family! That we were sisters! What about Jasper?"

"Jasper needs this."

"No!" I cried, and I could already picture Charlie waking up. "No! He doesn't! He knows I trust him! He said that he loves me! Wh- He said-"

"I'm sorry." Alice began to turn away, and I jerked forward to grab her arm. "No! Alice you can't just leave! Why would you do this? What about Sadie?"

"She understands."

"No!" I didn't realize I was crying until I felt tears drip onto my shirt. "You can't- Alice!"

"Goodbye."

"No!" I tried to run, but as soon as the words left her lips, she had already disappeared into the black of the night.

"Alice!" I screamed, my voice hoarse and desperate. They can't be gone. They can't go. They said that we were family, they told me-

I collapsed on the ground of my porch, hot tears soaking into the wood as I place one hand on the ground, and let out one loud, guttural sob.

My necklace dangled in my line of vision.

I guess it was all a bunch of lies.