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Chapter 6

"Jas! Earth to Jasper!" A voice said, and I looked away from the sludge that was on my tray. It was Tuesday, and we were eating lunch at our table. Shannon was snapping her fingers in my face while the others were staring at me, worried. I knew I was acting weird, but I couldn't help it.

Gale had been avoiding me for the past two days. Anytime we were in the same area, he would rush off before I could sat anything. He no longer sat with us at lunch, and barely saw him at school. When we all woke up after the sleepover, he was gone, but I just assumed he had to leave early. Now I realized that he left to get away from me. Had I done something wrong? Did he regret our kiss?

"Jasper! Are you even listening? What's wrong with you?" Shannon said, wrapping an arm around my waist. I hadn't said anything about him avoiding me. For some reason, I had this naive hope that he was just busy.

"I don't know." I said, sighing deeply. "Gale hasn't talked to me at all." I said and Shannon frowned. Hayley gave me a look of sympathy and patted my hand.

"Have you tried talking to him?" Shannon asked.

"I can't. He runs whenever I come near." I answered. Shannon hugged me closer and Danny clenched his fists.

"I can go make him talk to you." Danny offered in his tough voice. Hayley's eyes widened and I shook my head quickly. We all knew what Danny was capable of. Once, he saw an ex boyfriend of Shannon's slap her, and he lost it. The guy was in the hospital for a month. No one felt bad for him though. He deserved it.

"That's okay, Danny. Besides, I doubt you'll be able to make him talk to me, since, you know, he can't talk at all." I said, weakly attempting to crack a joke. The girls laughed and Danny smiled.

"Well, stop moping. It's killing my mood." Danny said and stuck and spoonful of the sludge into his mouth. We all groaned and gagged.

"Gross!" Hayley gagged.

"I know! How can you eat that stuff?" Shannon asked, pulling a face. He shrugged and ate another spoonful. Danny was capable of eating anything and not getting sick. It wasn't really fair to the rest of us since we had to sit there and watch him do it.

Gale popped back into my mind, and my smiled faltered. It was almost ridiculous how much this was affecting me. I just met him, like, three weeks ago, and I've only really know him for two. I shouldn't be this torn about him. Yet, I couldn't help but feel like I was loosing something important to me.

The lunch bell rang, rescuing me from my thoughts, and we all headed to our classes. Danny left while Shannon, Hayley, and I all walked to the dreaded Mr. Furman's class. We walked through the door, and Shannon shivered dramatically and breathed on her hands and rubbed them together. Hayley snickered and elbowed her.

"Stop before you get sent out." Hayley whispered. We walked over to our seats and sat down. Shannon sat my left and Hayley sat to the right of the chair in front of me. That seat was empty. I never understood why Mr. Furman didn't just fill that seat, but I wasn't about to ask him. He'd probably chew my head off.

Class started off as boring as usual. Mr. Furman was going over Shakespeare's writings and other sonnets when the door to our class opened. Mr. Furman stopped his lecture and we all tilted forward in our seats to see who it was.

"Well, are you going to come in or are you going to stand in my doorway staring?" Mr. Furman snapped. Slowly, Gale shuffled in, his head down. He was clutching a note in his left hand and his backpackers in the other. Strands of his wispy blonde hair fell in his face, and I couldn't help but think he looked beautiful. He wore his trench coat with the many buttons again, and his violin case stuck out of a pocket in his backpack.

A few of the girls giggled at how cute he was, and I felt a little bitter.

Gale handed the note to Mr. Furman and kept his eyes down as he read it. Mr. Furman raised an eyebrow at Gale and examined him.

"You must be highly intellectual to be in my class in your sophmore year. I hope your mature enough for my class." My heart leaped. He's in this class? Great, this just got awkward.

"You will be expected to work your hardest and complete every assignment. Failure to do so will result in removal from my class. Is that understood. Gale nodded and Mr. Furman looked around before his eyes landed on an empty seat. The one right in front of me.

"There's a seat open in front of Mr. Whalen. Mr. Whalen, please raise your hand." I hesitantly raised my hand and Gale turned to where I was. I could see the panic in his eyes when he saw me. He glanced around for another seat, but found none.

"Mr. Woods, is there a problem?" Mr. Furman asked and Gale shook his head. He walked over to the seat and sat down, carefully avoiding my eyes. Mr. Furman continued with his lecture and the class turned their attention to him. I rested my chin on my arms, praying that the class would just end.

Hayley

I glanced over at Jasper, who looked miserable, and Gale, who looked like there was a wat waging in his mind. I could tell a lot was on his mind, and I could tell it had to do with Jasper. I looked over at Mr. Furman for a moment, checking to make sure he was occupied, before subtly signing to Gale.

Hello.

Gale looked over at me and gave a small smile.

Hi, he signed. I glanced around the class before signing.

Ok, I'll just cut to the chase. Why are you blowing off Jasper? I thought you said you liked him?

Gale sighed and bit his botttom lip before signing back.

It's complicated.

I rolled my eyes and signed.

Well, you're screwing with his mind. He really likes you and your confusing him.

Gale looked down and nodded.

I'm sorry. It's just...Gale signed but trailed off.

What? I signed back, urging him on. He sighed and kept going.

I'm not good enough. I don't have much to offer. It would be unfair to make him deal with all my baggage.

I was shocked. That was why he was ignoring Jasper? Because he thought he wasn't good enough for him. If this wasn't Mr. Furman's class, the class where happiness is strictly prohibited, I would laugh. Instead, I smiled and shook my head, signing back.

You don't know that. You don't give Jasper enough credit. Just talk to him. I bet you'll be surprised.

I knew this for sure. Jasper had asked me to teach him to sign so he could talk to Gale without me translating. He had to be serious about Gale if he was willing to pretty much learn a new language. So far he knew basic words and I gave him an ASL dictionary for when he was practicing.

Gale shook his head and I pouted.

Come on, Gale! Please? Give him a chance.

Gale stared at the ceiling for a minute before he finally nodded. I smiled and let out a squeal. Gale stared at me in horror and I realized what I had done. Mr. Furman was glaring at me.

"Ms. Simone, would you like to share with the class what you are so happy about?" My face flushed red as the entire class stared at me. I heard Shannon snickering behind me.

"Um, sir, I-

I was interrupted by the bell, signaling class was over. OH THANK GOD. Grinning, I grabbed my bag and sprinter out of the classroom.

Jasper

Throughout the entire class, Hayley and Gale had been going back and forth. I was pretty sure it was about me, judging my Hayley's facial expressions. I was hoping that he would talk to me after class, but he didn't.

After school, I trudged through the parking lot where my old red truck was. It was back from the shop, and I wouldn't have to ride around with Shannon in her bright yellow convertible. Hiking my backpack up, I went around to the driver's side. What I found made the buttterflies in my stomach flutter like crazy.

Gale was leaning up against my door, wringing his fingers together in front of him. His head was resting against my window and he looked like he was in another world. I cleared my throat and he jumped, knocking his head on my window. He clutched the back of his head, wincing.

"Oh my God, are you ok?" I asked and he nodded. He reached into his bag and pulled at a large sketchpad. It looked like the ones they gave us for art class. He flipped to the first page and held it up.

I KNOW I'VE BEEN IGNORING YOU.

He flipped the page.

AND I'M REALLY SORRY.

Flip.

I REALLY LIKE YOU.

Flip.

BUT I WAS SCARED,

Flip.

THAT I WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO OFFER YOU ANYTHING.

Flip.

AND THAT ONCE YOU REALIZED THAT, YOU WOULD LEAVE.

I WAS STUPID FOR THINKING SO LITTLE OF YOU.

Flip.

AND I HOPE YOU WILL FORGIVE ME.

Gale stood in front of me hopefully and I smiled.

"Of course I will, but first, I have a question." He nodded for me to ask and I took a deep breath and wiped my hands on my jeans. Slowly, I began to sign.

(Will you) I pointed one finger at him,

(Be) I held four fingers up,

(my) I placed my right hand on my chest,

(Boyfriend?) and I brought my two fists together and wiggled my thumbs.

I had barely finished the last word when Gale flew into my chest and hugged me. I swept him into my arms and held him. He wrapped his arms around my neck, his forehead resting against my chest. We stayed like that for a moment before I tilted his chin up and pressed my lips to his.

His lips moved against mine as I pulled him closer to me. Luckily, the parking lot was almost empty, and no one who was still here could see us from behind my car. He grabbed the collar of my shirt, still keeping our lips locked, and walked us backwards until we were pressed against my truck.

My tongue slipped past his lips and danced with his until we broke for air. I trailed my nose down his neck and breathed in his sweet scent. He gasped as I left a trail of tiny kisses on his collarbone. I returned to his lips and gave him a few more soft kisses. Gale burried his face in the crook of my neck, his arms wrapped around my waist.

"Gale?" I murmured and he looked up at me. I loved when he did that. It made him look so cute and his eyes so blue.

"I don't care what you have to offer. All I care about is being with you. Ok?" I reassured him, and he nodded. And we stood like that for a long time.

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Dedicated to frostcure because I'm sick and up at 1:20am writing this because your comment made me want to. So thanks!

You guys are awesome. I get all happy and rainbowey inside when I update this story and notice that more people are reading it. So yeah, you guys made my sad, cough-filled day :D. The main reason why this took so long is because of that tiny sign language portion. I had to go on youtube and watch people sign to songs just to find my words. And it took me a while to figure out that "be" is a verb that isn't said in ASL, so Jasper just signed for the letter B.

So yeah, I'm uber dedicated to you guys and this story so you should all COMMENT/VOTE! PLEASE!

Picture of Jasper's truck. Yes this is THE truck Bella drove in Twilight, but Jasper rocks it way better than Bella ever will :D -------------------->

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