Carlisle called a family meeting before he left. I had been on my newest laptop, using a modified touch screen to edit a couple of previous photographs. The next moment I felt myself flying down the stairs and entering the dining room, taking a seat near the end of the table. 

One of my main roles in family meetings was keeping it peaceful. My particular gift was necessary, what with Edward reading things in our minds we didn't want anyone to hear, and Alice seeing a number of different futures that could cause major dilemmas. 

Esme was wringing her hands worriedly, her eyes shifting back and forth between Carlisle and the rest of us. She was emitting a smokey gray color that Carlisle and Alice seemed to match; between the three of them the tendrils that came out were harder to contain. 

Rosalie and Emmett came in last. They seated themselves on one side of the table, Emmett throwing a large arm around Rosalie's shoulders and pulling her closer to him, their attention moving towards Carlisle. 

"Late yesterday afternoon," began Carlisle, resting his hands on the table in front of him. His eyes flickered heavily to mine and I caught the reluctance he had before speaking. 

I knew what this was about. 

"Late yesterday afternoon Edward came into my office, asked for my car keys, and left. Is there anything anyone can say that can expand on this matter?" The room shifted to Alice, who had her head bent down. Now she lifted it, but her eyes were still glazed over and she looked into the future. 

"Edward and Jasper -" cue all the eyes on me - "met the new twins in town, the daughters of Chief Swan. There was a lot of indecisiveness," she dropped her head down again and raked a hand through her hair, catching Michael's attention from where he had been staring with narrowed eyes at the pictures on the wall. One of the frames was slightly crooked. Not enough human eyes could catch it, but enough that he could feel bothered by it. But now he looked back to Alice, lines of worry stretching across his face. They made him look older, older than the seventeen years he was supposed to be playing. 

Most of the room's attention was still on me. I had, once upon a time, liked the attention. When I had been the soldier, been the captain, it was nice to be recognized and known. But after my time as a vampire, I was quick to learn attention was not the way to survive. 

Their eyes on me were something I was used to. My struggle with their lifestyle was certainly noticeable, and their concern was...oddly welcome every once in a while. Now I turned to Alice, too, and voiced a question I already knew the answer to, Edward - despite the fact that he wasn't here - already knew the answer to, and the answer that the rest of the room was waiting for. 

"Indecisiveness for what, Alice?" I asked. Part of me waited for her answer, the other part began to work on the emotions again, folding in the gray tendrils, painting the emotions pale gray, pale cream, off white. The atmosphere changed into a more relaxed one, mellowing out as I did so. 

"You wanted to kill her, Jasper." Alice murmured, finally settling her gaze back at me. I looked at her, picturing in her head the image I had already conjured myself, pondered, seen from every angle until I understood it and wanted to wipe it from my everlasting memory. "And Edward wanted to kill her sister. You were both very close. It's amazing you made it out."

"She smelled that good?" Emmett was reluctant to understand. I could physically see his disbelief in the corner of my eye, a stark contrast to the pale colors of both everyone else and the house behind him. "I mean, I know we're all thirsty, but..."

A new fire ripped through my throat when I thought of her again. The yellow girl. Her absolutely tantalizing scent, one of fresh flowers that smelled like my mother's own home. "She smelled better than anything has ever smelled to me, Emmett."

"Well, what do we do now?" Esme was the one who spoke, though her attention was on Carlisle. He sighed, gave a small shrug and stood. 

"Hunt before you go to school, all of you. And Alice, keep an eye on Edward."

***

How had I not noticed she was beautiful? That thought circled around in my head for a while I was at school the next day. 

I was hyper aware of everything around me. Hunting earlier had helped a little, but none of the people now held even a small candle to the Yellow Girl. I really had to get her name. But I watched, carefully, everyone around me in hopes of catching a glimpse of her emotions. I wanted to see if they could affect me the way they did yesterday. It had been such a pleasant feeling, such a nice effect that I found myself having a craving for it. 

And then I saw her in my second period class. She was already there, tucked away in the back next to my seat. It took me by surprise - I found myself hesitating, in a human way, at the door before further entering the classroom. My breath caught in my throat and I cut off my breathing, determined to not go down that path. What was she doing in a senior level class? 

I sat next to her though, holding my breath. I let the window creak open, and as I did so took a quick look at her from the corner of my eye. She was still radiantly yellow. It was stunning, like a small sun was in the classroom and I had the pleasure of sitting right next to it. Her emotions had a lot of tendrils, I noticed - they looked like little rays of sun, reaching out to touch everything near her. But as I continued to watch, each little ray, each tendril turned and made their way over to me. The moment they touched the outside of my own color swirl - my usual off white - it too bloomed into a yellow sun. 

I felt the difference immediately. It was a similarity I struggled to find a connection to. For what could describe such a thing? I had never felt it before. But I found myself smiling, and more than once I almost started a conversation. 

Her emotions were very strong. I caught her eye more than once, and when I did I felt a strange soaring feeling, like I was on top of the world and nothing could get me down. 

It was amazing.