CHAPTER TWELVE
IT'S GETTIN' HOT IN HERE

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                         SABINE HAD GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL OVER TWENTY-FIVE TIMES. It never changed — the boring ceremony, the cringey jokes, the kid who did a backflip after collecting his diploma. It was all the same, every single time. She hated it.

"Do I have to go?" She complained, climbing into the passenger seat of Jasper's car. Usually Alice was the one to sit there, since they were the closest, but he'd been offering her the spot recently. She might've had a clue as to why.

"Do you want to graduate?" Edward asked from the back seat.

"Not really." She murmured, "These gowns are bright yellow. Nobody wants to graduate in this. I mean, this is the only opportunity these human kids are gonna get to graduate, and they have to do it in yellow."

"It'll be over before you know it." Alice smiled, "It always is."

She scoffed, "Right." Then she turned to Bella, who was squished between her boyfriend and Alice, "You better get used to this. I haven't."

Bella grinned, leaning her head on Edward's shoulder. They held their caps in their laps — rhyme unintended — and chatted mindlessly as Jasper drove them to the school. Emmett, Rosalie, Esme and Carlisle followed behind them, ready to watch from the audience.

When they got there, late, they were ushered into the auditorium and told to find their seats quick-time. Edward, Alice and Sabine all went to the C section, with a goodbye wave to Bella who was further in the back with the rest of the S'. Jasper walked up the aisle with them until they got to the H's, and he tipped his imaginary hat at them before shuffling past all the kids who were already sitting to get to his seat.

"This is going to be fun." Sabine murmured to her brother, who nudged her to be quiet. The principal took her place at the podium, and began her long dreary speech about their future and what lied ahead.

Then Jess was ushered up to make her valedictorian speech — which wasn't as painful as most of them were. Sabine's applause was genuine for once.

As for the rest of the ceremony...pretty typical. Eric whooped and hollered when Sabine went up, and then again even louder when Angela did. Mike attempted the backflip but failed, and Tyler redeemed it with his perfect form. Edward kept whispering other people's thoughts in her head — like when the principle was thinking about what sort of underwear she was gonna wear on her date later that night — and she kept swatting him away.

An hour and a half later, and the crowd of sweaty teens were finally pushing their way out of the hall and into the fresh air. They met their parents and friends with hugs, waving their diplomas in the air. They kissed their partners, they cried in relief.

Sabine laughed as they approached the rest of their family, sharing hugs. She accepted Emmett's embrace, swatting him away when he scuffed the top of her head, "Bet you don't regret going now, huh?"

"It's boring and pointless." She made clear, "But, no, I don't regret it."

"She never does!" He exclaimed, picking her up and spinning her around.

She stumbled a bit when he put her down, but Edward caught her arm and pulled her into his own hug. He didn't hug people often, considering what happened the last time he accepted a his from his sister, but he made exceptions on occasion. She pulled back and grinned at him, "Twenty-six down, an eternity's worth more to go."

He shook his head with a smile and a roll of his eyes before stepping back and nodding over her shoulder. She turned, making eye contact with Jasper, and her teasing grin faded into something soft, "Hi."

"Howdy." He beamed, opening his arms. She stepped into them and they embraced. They'd hugged before — every graduation, every baseball win — but this one was slightly different. They didn't need to say anything; they knew.

The relaxed atmosphere fell off the second they got home, and Alice went immediately into party planner mode. Her and Rose were on decorations, Emmett was on drinks, Jasper was to spread the word of their address through Bella, and Edward was on kitchen duty with Sabine. For hours after they got home, they were under the heavy hand of Alice, who did not mess around when it came to parties.

Although it all worked out. By the time the first people were arriving, the house looked amazing. And within the hour, the party was pumping.

Sabine was lingering by the food table, keeping a watchful eye on her classmates reactions to the food, when Rosalie wandered over to her. She smiled, "Hey, Rose."

"Hi." She responded, "This is torture. I hate everyone here."

Sabine let out a chuckle, leaning against the wall beside her, "Let loose, Rose. Have fun, dance."

Her sister sent her a blank look, but she simply beamed in response. Then Alice was waltzing up to them, trailing along a taller brunette girl who looked like she wanted to be anywhere else. She tapped Rose on the shoulder, and the blonde turned to face the two.

"Rosalie, Sabine. This is Lena." Alice explained, pointing to the girl who was staring at them in wonder. Her hair was short and she was in a cute black dress.

"Hi." Rose said plainly, "Nice dress."

Lena grinned with a pink dust to her cheeks, "Thanks. You guys are beautiful."

"We know." Was her response.

Sabine rolled her eyes and stepped forward, "It's great to meet you. I think I've heard a thing or two from Edward."

Lena nodded rapidly, smoothing down her dress, "Right. You're the twin?"

"Yep." She smirked, "You're the wolf."

"Yep." She nodded. Then she glanced behind her, and Sabine saw Jacob Black enter the party with two others. She looked back at Sab, who nodded at her to go with a smile, and then she was departing.

Alice smiled wide, "Isn't she great?"

"She's better to be around than Jacob, that's for sure." Rosalie nodded in agreement and the sisters shared a laugh. Alice excused herself — something about needing more punch — and left the girls alone once more. Sabine looked at the blonde, "I'm gonna go look for something to do."

She pushed her way through the crowd of dancing teens, laughing when Mike pulled her into a spin before letting her go, and made it halfway across the house before she heard her name called.

"Hey, Sabine." She turned, only to make eye contact with Brad, the jock who groped her three weeks ago, "Where's your bodyguard, tonight? Not around?"

She scoffed and rolled her eyes, "I thought we'd made it clear that you weren't invited."

"Open invitation, Cullen." He raised his hands in a shrug, "Plus, you never said no to my request."

"Oh, I didn't?" She asked, feigning confusion. She closed the gap between them with a hum as he nodded, sending him a fake smile before gripping his wrist so hard she felt something snap. He cried out, "Well here you go; no. Get the hell out of my house."

She let him go and he wandered off with a whimper. She turned around, shaking her head, only to make contact with Jasper — who had wandered up behind her. She looked up at him, "Oh, hey. You havin' fun?"

He shrugged, "Not until I got to watch that."

She laughed, but he raised a brow in all seriousness. Running her tongue over her teeth, she smirked at him, "Well, if I'm being honest, I quite enjoyed watching you beat up on him too."

"Oh, really?" He asked with a tilt of the head. She nodded. He chuckled, "Well, that's..."

"And since we're opening up, I love that long sleeve you wear whenever we play baseball." She said, all her confidence coming back to her now she didn't have anything to hide. "And those tricks you do with the bat?" She whistled lowly, "Hot."

Jasper let out a disbelieved chuckle, shaking his head, "That is...good to know." He looked at her, smirking, "And since we're being honest, I must applaud the dress you wore on Bella's birthday."

Sabine raised a brow and smirked, "I think you said that back then, too."

"I did?"

"Mhm." She hummed, "After you zipped it up for me. Clearly, I have more self control than you do."

"Oh, you definitely do." He ground out, his voice dark and low. His eyes were the same, and he took a step closer...

...only for their ears to perk when Alice's voice rung out, "The decision's been made."

They looked away from each-other, focusing on the sound of their voices. Bella's was next, "We're not going to Seattle."

"No. They're coming here."

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"They'll be here in four days."

Gathered in one of the sitting rooms further away from the party, Carlisle paced the room. Sabine pulled herself up onto the table beside where Edward was leaning. Jasper stood next to her, and kept a firm eye on the four wolves who stood before them.

"This could turn into a bloodbath." Carlisle said, shaking his head in disdain.

"Who's behind it?" Edward asked.

Alice shook her head, "I didn't see anyone I recognised...maybe one."

Edward nodded, "I know his face. He's local, Riley Biers. He didn't start this."

Sabine knew Riley Biers. He was her lab partner in Chemistry back in junior year before she dropped the subject — nice enough guy to talk to, and he never hazed her because of her family's reputation of being freaks. She hadn't even noticed he was missing.

"Well whoever did is staying out of the action."

"They're playing with the blind spots in your vision." Sabine deducted, pursing her lips.

"Either way, the army's coming, and there aren't enough of us to protect the town." Jasper said to them defiantly. He was right.

"Hold on, what damn army?" Jacob exclaimed with a screwed up face, looking at them for answers.

"Newborns. Our kind." Carlisle explained.

"What are they after?" One of the other wolves asked.

"They were passing around Bella's scent." Alice explained, "A red blouse."

"They're after Bella?"

"Someone's always after Bella." Sabine muttered.

"What does this mean?"

"It means an ugly fight." Carlisle firmed, "With lives lost."

"Alright..." Jacob said, looking between his friends with a brave face, "We're in."

"No." Bella immediately stopped him, "You'd get yourselves killed, no way."

"I wasn't asking for permission." Jake shook his head.

"Edward?" She tried. If anyone would be against Jacob's involvement, it would be him.

"If it means more protection for you." He said instead. Bella huffed.

"Jacob." Carlisle asked, "Do you think Sam would agree to...an understanding?"

"As long as we get to kill some vampires." He smirked. Sabine scoffed.

"Jasper?"

The blonde tilted his head in thought, "They'll give us the numbers. The newborns won't even know they exist, it'll give us an edge."

"We'll need to coordinate — "

"Carlisle." Bella stood, "They're gonna get hurt."

"We'll all need some training." He deducted, "Fighting newborns requires knowledge that Jasper has, you're welcome to join us."

"Alright. Name the time and place."

"Jake..." She tried again, "You don't know what you're getting yourself into."

"Bella," He started, "this is what we do. You should be happy. Look at us, working together. You are the one that wanted us to get along, remember?"

Sabine held in an amused snort, folding her arms and leaning back against the window. Edward and Jasper sent her looks from either side of her, and she kicked them both in the leg.

"Tomorrow." Alice grinned, "In the clearing."

"Awesome. I'll pass the message long." Jacob nodded, and ushered the other three wolves out of the room. Lena scowled at him and flipped him the bird before walking off after him, not without sending a wave to Bella in farewell.

Sabine hopped off the counter with a sigh, "Alright. Well, we've still got a party going on downstairs, so I say we get back down there before they start raiding the place."

Carlisle nodded, and the group of them headed back to the crowds of dancing humans. Sabine had to squeeze past a pair of kids who were ogling at their grad cap wall, murmuring about the hidden meaning behind the art, before she was bumping into Jess and Angela on the balcony.

"Hey girls." She smiled, catching their attention, "Liking the party?"

"Loving." Angela stressed, sticking her hands out, "This house is amazing."

"Yeah," Jess chuckled, "That Doctor's salary does amazing things for you. Seriously."

She smirked, "Well, we put a lot of work into our house. It's our safe space."

"Totally."

"Yeah."

"Hey, Sabine!" She turned, meeting eyes with Mike and Eric, who were barging their way through the door and rubbing their arms at the feel of the cold. Mike nodded at her, "Yo, is that Stephen King collection in your library real? 'Cos some of those copies are, like, originals. They're worth a shit ton."

"They're all originals." She grinned happily at his widened eyes, "Yep. Not easy to find."

"That. Is. Awesome." He let out through a series of disbelieving laughs, looking at Eric as if to ask him how crazy he thought it was. The boy was equally as shocked, nodding his head impressively at her.

"So, what Colleges have you guys picked out?" Angela asked them, leaning on the railing and letting her hair float over the driveway below. They each discussed answers; Mike was aiming for a sports school, while Jessica was on track for Princeton. When they turned their questioning gaze to Sabine, she had her answer ready.

"Oh, well, Edward wants to go to UOA, but we've spent so much time in Alaska recently — "

"Oh, is that where you went?" Jessica asked, "When you guys disappeared for, like, six months?"

Her lips parted, but she nodded nonetheless, "Yeah. Yeah, uh — our cousin got really...sick. They needed a few extra hands up there to make sure she was comfortable in her last moments."

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Angela sympathised. They all have her sad nods that she dismissed with a thankful smile.

"Yeah." She nodded, "So, not exactly warm to the idea of going back up there, but...at least it's familiar."

"So where would you go, if not Alaska?" Eric asked.

She thought on it — Sabine had been to a lot of Colleges. Columbia, Brown, UOI, Michigan...She even took the bar at Harvard one time in the 80s, but never took it anywhere. She really only did it so she could brag about it to her family. Truth be told, she didn't know when she'd be going to a college again, or if they'd move somewhere new and start again in high school after changing Bella. It was something they hadn't exactly had told to discuss — what, with all the failed murder attempts on the human girl and all.

She blew out a puff of air, "I'd like to try Texas...I love it there."

"You've been to Texas?" Angela asked in awe, "But it's so..."

"Sunny?" She finished with a raised brow, "Just because you don't see us out in the sun, doesn't mean we don't go out in the sun."

"Yeah, Ang." Jess scoffed as if she wasn't about to make the same comment earlier.

Sabine would love to go back to Texas, even if she had to wear a headscarf whenever she went out in public. She felt closer to Jasper there, and she was so interested in learning more about his hometown. It'd also be pretty nice to see Mel again.

Wait. Mel.

Sabine pushed herself off the railing and straightened up, giving her human friends a look, "I'll be right back."

Then she went back into the house, searching for any one of her family members so she could share her idea. Sure, she could just ask, and they'd hear, but she didn't want her peers to think she spoke to herself. They were freaky enough as is.

She pushed past a couple making out against the wall in one of their hallways and turned to where their bedrooms were. She followed the closest and strongest scent she could get a grip on in the sea of human stench (no offence, Bella), until she opened her own bedroom door and watched Jasper flip through the manuscript she had left on her desk.

"Hey, I think we should — what are you doing?" She asked, pausing in the doorway.

He looked up at her, "I think you should publish this one first. It's a nice change."

He held up the thick wad of paper that was Duma Key and shook it in his hands. Then he pointed over to Just After Sunset and said, "Then that one. The unfinished one on your computer is good — I'd like to read it when it's finished."

Her lips parted in shock, "Uh — Edward, is, um, usually my first — "

"I know." Jasper nodded, putting the paper down and stepping towards her, "He's read these already."

Her brows pinched, "He has?"

He hummed a yes, "Whenever he's bored, and you're out guarding Charlie or Bella."

"How do you know that?"

He paused then, and suddenly looked a little sheepish, "I, uh — It came up in conversation the other day."

She was suspicious at his sudden change in demeanour, "What were you talking about originally?"

"What, I can't talk to my brother casually?" He attempted, to no avail.

Sabine shook her head, "Not when you act this suspicious about it. What's up?"

"I was just — Asking him..."

"Asking him what?"

"If — you know, if — " He sighed, "I just wanted him to know that I don't tend on hurting you anymore."

She let out an amused chuckle, looking at him funny, "Jasper, you could never hurt me." He sent her a look, "Okay, the ignoring me thing hurt, but it was also justified. Like, I understood."

He rolled his eyes with a fond smile and took her hand, pulling her further into the room so she was no longer leaning against the open door. It fell shut behind her. She looked up at him with a happy grin, not moving a muscle, feeling his hand slide itself further up her arm and around the back of her neck. He yanked on the back of her hair, pulling her head back so she was facing up at him, and leaned in.

She accepted his mouth on hers immediately — and a blanket of relief fell over her. It was like all of a sudden, everything in the world was right, and nothing could go wrong. She melted into him, gripping the sides of his shirt in her fists and allowing his arms to encircle her. They went around her waist, up her back, along her arms. He was touching every inch of her, all the places he'd wished to touch when he thought he couldn't.

He lifted her up with ease, spinning them around and putting her down heavily on her desk. It cracked from the force, but they couldn't care less. Jasper's hands wandered down to her backside, and he shoved her closer to his own body, sliding her across the surface roughly. She met him eagerly, and her lips left his, travelling along his face and down his neck — she bit him, swiping her tongue over the dents, and then did it again. He groaned in her ear, gripping her waist so tight it would bruise if that was possible.

He pulled back breathlessly, "They can hear us."

She panted, shaking her head, "They don't have to listen."

"Sabine —"

She heaved out a sigh, "Fine." Then, with an attitude-filled look, she hopped off the desk, walked around his body to her door, pulled it open and walked to the banister of the stairs, looking down.

Alice was already at the bottom, smirking up at her. Sabine sent her a look, and the girl nodded, grabbing Rosalie and she walked past and telling her to get Emmett. She asked why, and Alice stammered.

"I, uh, had a vision!"

"Of the Army?" Carlisle was by her side suddenly.

Alice shook her head, "A...huge pack of mountain lions passing through the forest. Once in a lifetime opportunity, come on, let's go!"

"Awesome." Emmett beamed.

"What about Sabine and Jasper?" Esme asked as she grabbed her coat.

"They're gonna stay here." She encouraged, "Hold down the fort, make sure the humans don't steal anything."

"But — "

"They're good!" She attested with a too-tight grin, shoving them out the door, "Let's go, they're almost here."

Sabine pressed her lips together to contain the laughter, biting hard on her lip when she saw Edward gag into his sleeve after looking into Alice's head.

Maybe that'll teach you not to read everyone's minds all the time. She smirked, pushing herself away from the banister and walking swiftly back into her room. When she opened the door, Jasper was looking at her with a raised brow. She just shook her head and shoved him back so he was sitting on her couch, straddling him and taking his mouth on hers once more.

His hands were back on her like magnets on steel, and her hands found their way into his curls. She pressed herself tighter against him, as if she could get any closer, and wrapped her arms around his neck. His wound around her back, and then he was lifting her up and laying her down, hovering over her and continuing his onslaught on her neck. She shoved off his grey jacket and unbuttoned his navy shirt, pushing it away from his shoulders. He pulled away from her slightly, looking down in worry.

She'd seen his scars — the bite marks that littered his arms from years of fighting off newborns. She knew all too well the history behind them, and she knew there were more. But looking at them was different. She ran her fingers up his arms, along his chest, around his neck. Nail scratches, teeth indents — all scattered along his torso and stomach. She thought they were beautiful.

"You're perfect." She whispered. Then she shook her head, pulling him back down into her and kissing him softly. He smiled against her mouth, pulling her up so they were sitting across from each other and running his hands through her hair. She let out a breathless chuckle, "You're not getting away from me."

Jasper smirked, "Ain't no rodeo clown that could that can keep me off you, darlin'."

"Oh my god." She said through giggles, shaking her head, "You're not gonna ask me to wear nothing but cowboy boots next time we do this, are you?"

"Let's finish this round first, yeah?" He asked lowly, fiddling with the hem of her shirt. She nodded and pulled it off and over her head, discarding it on the other side of the room.

"Sounds like a plan."

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— mills speaks!

sorry for disappearing again but really you should've seen it coming. hope this chapter makes up for it ;))

IM SORRY ✋🏼😦🤚🏻