"I thought about how there are two types of secrets. The kinds you want to keep in, and the kinds you don't dare let out..."

-Ally Carter

***

The holidays were peaceful, but the first day back at school is pretty much the opposite.

"Bella! Where did you put my boots?"

"In the boot cupboard"

"Since when did we have a boot cupboard?"

I hurried to throw on my jacket, (Yes, one that Alice got me... I have like, five now!) and ran out the door. I made the mistake of eating breakfast before getting dressed... never again.

"Court have you seen my hairbrush?"

"It's in the hairbrush drawer."

"What?"

I snickered under my breath, already anxious to get to school. Huh, anxious for school... that is something that I'd never thought I'd say. The only reason I want to get there quickly is so that I can see the Cullen's. I haven't seen Edward in ages, and it feels like an eternity since I'd seen Emmett and Rosalie. I always want to see Alice, and Jasper-

He's Jasper. It is impossible to not want to see him.

I drove to school today, Bella seemed preoccupied in her own thoughts. She leaned on her palm and stared out the window dramatically. She looked like an actress in a music video. I was tempted to start humming the Bohemian Rhapsody, but I was to scared of getting kicked to the side of the road.

The first surprise I got when we pulled up at the school was the Silver Volvo parked a few spaces away, Bella seemed to notice too, and tensed. The second surprise was when I actually saw Edward exit. He also looked like he was a music video. Or a cologne add.

"See you." I grinned at Bella, and she nodded, her cheeks red. "Hey." I put my hand on her shoulder, and she jumped, as if not expecting any physical contact. I was surprised too, at myself.

"Don't stress, okay?" I tried to reassure Bella, but it came out more like I was reassuring myself.

"I know. I am cool." She responded, and I snorted, patting her head jokingly. "Kay, Bells." I mumbled, exiting the vehicle and making my way over to the entrance of the school. I would have waited for Bella, but by the looks of it, she wouldn't be out of the truck for a while.

"Edward!" I called, waving my arm in the air, the boy himself turned his head, and nodded once when he saw me, smiling tightly. "Hello Courtney." He greeted, as I fell in pace with him. "Hi Eddie... where have you been?" I asked, getting right to the point. He laughed, a beautiful sound, but not close to as beautiful as Jasper's.

"Family stuff." He answered simply, shaking his head. I rolled my eyes. Sure. If it was such an important family issue, then why was your whole family still here?

"Biological, family issue." He corrected, as if reading my mind.

Oh.

"Okay." I muttered, my cheeks red. I m so much dumber then originally thought. I can't believe I thought there was something weird about the Cullen's. They are the best friends I have ever had in my entire seventeen years of life.

I can't afford to loose that.

I lost Edward somewhere along the way to my locker. I rushed to put in the combination, grabbing my history book and hoping that I don't have to hand in that paper today.

"Courtney."

I jumped about five feet in the air, slamming my locker shut in my startled state. I relaxed when I saw that it was just Jasper, a slightly amused expression on his handsome face. I put my hand on my chest, gasping slightly, while he struggled to hold in his laughter.

"Sorry." He said in his adorable accent, despite not sounding very sorry, his smirk gave him away. "Didn't mean to frighten you."

I pouted, hugging my text book to my stomach. "That was mean." I accused as we began walking to history. "You almost gave me a heart attack."

Jasper shrugged, his blonde hair swaying as he walked. "That was slightly dramatic." He accused, shrugging his broad shoulders. "Seems your over accentuation levels have gone up since last I saw you."

I rolled my eyes, fighting off the smile that always came when he was in my presence. "I am not even going to pretend that I know what that means." I sassed, and he chuckled from beside me. The cool air coming off his skin comforted me, and I found myself unknowingly leaning closer to him.

"I know you know what that means. And I know even more that you are going to use it in our short story for English"

"Oh you're going down, Hale." I challenged, nudging his shoulder with my own. "Prepare to be humiliated."

"Oh please." He scoffed, "If I was born in the 1800's, I would be the person you are reading about in that textbook." He tapped the book I was carrying. It was my turn to scoff.

"Yes I can see the headline: Weird Southern Man gets run Over by a Bus on the Busy Streets of Washington." I teased, raising my arms. He gasped, shoving me lightly. "That was rude."

"Sorry hun, truth hurts."

We approached the doors of my history classroom, where Alice was waiting, her tiny body seemingly drowning under all of the textbooks she was carrying. Jasper and I laughed at the sight. "Need help there?" I asked, grabbing the top three books. Alice exhaled. "Thanks, Cordie I was beginning to think I was never going to escape there."

The bell rang, and I turned to the blonde boy beside me. "You're gonna be late." I realized, and he gave me a sly grin. "Not if I run."

***

Sadie:

How long has it been since we texted? Miss you bitch, any hot goss? You lonely? Please tell me you have at least one friend.

Sadie:

And Bella doesn't count.

Courtney:

You are hilarious. 😒

Courtney:

And yes, I actually have many friends.

Courtney:

Alice is better then you.

Sadie:

Aw I love you too! 😘

Sadie:

Any hot guys?

Courtney:

One, who's name I won't disclose to you.

Sadie:

Does he have social media?

Courtney:

Doubt it.

Sadie:

Then I can't stalk him, tell me his name!!!!!

Courtney:

Jasper.

Sadie:

That is hot.

Sadie:

Gotta go hun, in class.

Courtney:

Bye bitch!

Read: Tuesday, January 12, 9:21 am

***

The first two classes dragged on, and when it was time for English, I was 100% ready.

"Ready to get your butt kicked?" I joked as I took my seat next to Jasper. His face stretched into a grin. "I was born ready...." His face dropped. "Wait, no, that's not what I meant." He tried to reason , holding up his hands while I shrieked with laughter.

Mr. Thomas started the class, not so subtly glaring at Jasper and I. I tried to glare back, but ended up collapsing in silent giggles. When Jasper glared back, he held it longer then I did, but when he let go it was a great sense of relief because I couldn't decide if that was attractive or terrifying.

In the end, Jasper did end up winning the writing contest. (Something Mr. Thomas was not thrilled about.) And he is flaunting it in my face every chance he gets.

"Oh hey guys, it's go great to see you." He waved the small, plastic trophy around, right in front of me, as we approached the lunch table. I swatted him away, pouting. "Stop-"

"Oh? What is this you ask?"

"Nobody asked that!"

"Well, this is my first place prize from Mr. Thomas's class." Jasper smirked at me. "What did you get again, Courtney?"

"Shut up." I grumbled, taking my seat next to Alice, Jasper swung his arm around my shoulder, the cold plastic dangerously close to touching my nose.

"If you say one more word about that damn trophy, I swear I will-"

"You'll what?"

I growled under my breath, grabbing the plastic from Jasper's hand, and with a flick of my wrist, flung it across the room, where it landed neatly in the garbage can.

"No!" Jasper dramatically cried, while I smirked triumphantly and the other Cullen's probably heavily judged us.

"What did I just witness?" Edward asked aloud, a confused look on his dazzling face. Emmett shrugged, his pale face curled up in a smirk. He wrapped his arm tightly around Rosalie. "Get used to it. It happens a lot."

Edward sighed, straightening the collar of his shirt, "and here I was, thinking that Jasper was the most normal out of all my siblings."

I nudged the blond in return, giving him a sideways grin. "Oh how wrong you are."

***

Gym class is dreadful, but it is my last class before I get to escape school, so I'll take it any day. We are doing volleyball, and it had me wishing that I was in Bella's class so I could witness her try not to be killed.

We were all instructed to sit in the center of the gym, while two people from my class, Ben, a lanky boy with blond hair and crooked glasses, and Angela, the actually nice person Bella hangs out with, were chosen to be team captains. They were already playfully trash-talking, and everyone was internally groaning because of how much we ship them.

"Angela, first pick."

Angela's grin slipped off her mouth as her face became serious, her eyes scanned the room, and I could tell she was sorting out the strong athlete's from the lesser. Finally, her warm eyes slid to a stop.

"Courtney."

My body froze, and I felt a blush rise to my cheeks. This is the first time I've ever been picked first at Forks. Most people don't like me that much, but still pick me because they know I am strong.

Well, when you are twin sisters with Bella , it doesn't take an awful lot to look strong.

I shakily stood, stepping over people's hands as I made my way to the front of the circle, where I stood behind Angela, who grinned at me kindly. "Hey, Courtney." She greeted, and I managed a light smile in response. "Hi, Angela."

Angela leaned her weight on her left hip, the same thing that Rosalie does, except Rose doesn't usually have a book tucked under her arm. "What are you reading?" I asked the shorter girl.

She flashed me another smile, showing me the cover. "Until the End, it's basically a really historical YA novel."

"Oh?" I raised my eyebrow, interested. Hey, I need new books. "What's it about?"

"Oh you know," She made her voice deep, like she was narrating a movie. "Icy cold pale skin, blood red eyes, glistening fangs, mysteriously beautiful." She paused when she saw my confused expression, chuckling and tossing the book on her sweater. "Vampires."

***

Gym class dragged on slower then I would have liked, but when it was over, it seemed like I was a caged animal, finally freed.

Okay fine it just felt like any other day.

I tapped the heels of my boots against the cold floor as I walked, wishing I had an umbrella. I really should get one of those, It never seems to stop raining in Forks.

"Hey Cordie!" Alice's musical voice interrupted my internal Amazon-shopping. She greeted me with a hug, clutching a forest-green umbrella in her hand. "How was gym?"

I sighed. "The same. I accidentally hit Jason Miller in the head with a volley ball though."

Alice giggled. "That sounds fun."

"No not really."

I didn't even notice Edward and Jasper approach, until they were standing right behind me. "Do you have Miss. Covesto?" Edward asked, making me jump slightly. I nodded. "Yeah, she always makes us do push-ups."

Jasper smirked. "your life is so hard."

"I know, right?" I teased, shivering as we exited the building. I signaled to Bella across the lot, telling her that I would be over in a second. She nodded, giving me a thumbs up. She had her headphones in and was leaning against our truck, my jacket on her thin body. She told me she was cold in Bio so I let her borrow it.

"You look freezing." Jasper noted, and I shook my head, trying to prevent my teeth from chattering together. "N-no, I-'m f-fine."

Jasper snorted, sliding his hoodie off and handing it to me, he was wearing a pale white long-sleeved shirt underneath it. I tried to decline. "n-no, I d-don't need it."

He shook his head, seemingly un-bothered by the cold. "I don't get cold easily, I don't want you to get sick."

"You sound like my dad." I quipped, but slid it on nevertheless. It was big on me, the sleeves covering my hands completely, but it smelled wonderful, like cinnamon and evergreen tree's, and it warmed me up almost immediately.

I sighed in contentment, ignoring the looks my pale companions were giving me.

"You cozy in there?" Alice asked, and I sighed in response.

"I'll take that as a yes."

My cinnamon-induced bliss was soon interrupted by the sound of tire-on asphalt. It was a horrible sound, screeching like nails on a chalkboard, I jumped, looking up and letting out a strangled cry when I saw a silver van pushed up against my truck.

Bella and I's truck.

The metal meeting right where Bella was standing minutes before.

I screamed, the terrible sound ripping from my throat as people began panicking. "Courtney." Alice tried to grab my arm, but I was gone long ago, my backpack on the icy ground and my legs moving as fast as I could make them go.

A string of profanities exited my mouth as I made it to the car. One of the teachers tried to pull me away, but I resisted, my heart beating fast and tears stinging my eyes. "No, get away, that's my sister!" I screamed, and felt my arm get released as I saw someone slip out from the crack in between vehicles.

Was that Edward?

No, that's impossible.

"Shit, Bella!" I yelled again, my throat constricted and I suddenly had a hard time breathing. I fell to my knees, feeling a panic attack coming on, and I felt the cold, muscular arm of Jasper Hale wrap around me, pressing my face to his chest. I clung to him like he was my life support, shaking like I had just run a marathon.

"Court? Court it's okay, I'm okay?" I heard the voice of my sister, as if said through water.

"Bells, Bella." I gasped, turning from Jasper's embrace, and fell in my sisters arm, despite her being smaller then me, she still held on tight, swaying slightly.

"It's okay, shh. I am not hurt, see?" She held me at arms length, and I could vaguely see that she was in one piece. "The car, and the yelling- and Edward-" I began blabbing, wiping any excess tears from my face. "Holy shit is that Tyler?"

"I know. It was crazy."

And then, in that moment in time, I felt more like the little sister. Bella held me in her arms, soothing me while I tried to compose myself. That was one of the only times I lost my cool. I always tried to stay calm, but when you endanger the people I love, I break down and will either have a full-on panic attack, or get really angry.

I feel like I did all those years ago, after Bella had a hard day at school, or the bullying got to her. I truly felt like part of a family.