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Mrs. Robbins, Jasper’s fourth-period American History teacher, skimmed her finger down the paper roster on her clipboard. “Jasper Hale, you’re up next.”
“Yes Ma’am”
“Did you put your PowerPoint in our class Dropbox?”
“No ma’am,” he said.
“DropBox implants spyware onto our personal computers,” Jasper thought to himself. But out loud he said, “I have it on USB.”
He handed the small bit of plastic over to Mrs. Robbins, still not entirely sure why his teacher preferred this over the printed version he had tried to convince Alice would have more impact.
The projector flicked to life to one side of Jasper, the title page of his presentation: The Battle of Galveston.
Jasper took a deep breath, public speaking came naturally to him. He had become one of the youngest majors in the army, a presentation on one of his military successes would be like sipping sweet tea on a summer day. Easily done (PowerPoint or otherwise).
“I thought the best way to give my presentation would be in first person point of view” Jasper explained, clicking to his first slide.
A girl in the third row was starting to have some…lustful feelings. He wasn’t sure if was directed toward him or the jock with floppy hair in the first row. Probably the jock, but distracting nonetheless. He projected some cold shower thoughts her way.
“Now my garrison was positioned over this hill,” Jasper said pointing to a large map on the screen. “It was our job to hold the port for the confederacy and thus keep the supply chains open…from there-“
Jasper waxed poetic about the “storehouse of the confederacy”, the nickname of the Galveston port. How he and his men cheered as they saw the confederate ship CS Bayou City capture the USS Harriet Lane. How it energized his men as they found the battle on land.
Perhaps he had waxed too far because Mrs. Robbins cut him off, “Jasper perhaps this confederate point of view you have chosen is…too colorful? Perhaps you can stick to the facts.”
“These are the facts ma’am,” Jasper said breaking off his story of the smell of cannon fire mingling with the blood of his enemies.
His spine was rigid with tension at the memory. How shortly after the battle’s conclusion he saw her…Marie. Her eyes were as red as the blood that pooled at his feet.
“Your prompt was to pick a battle of the civil war and demonstrate its impact on the battle for states' rights.” Mrs. Robbins explained, “is that coming up on a future slide?”
“Ma’am the civil war wasn’t about states' rights,” Jasper’s brow furrowed, “it was about standing up for something bigger than yourself. About how no man that hasn’t walked in your boots can come in and tell him how to live—“
“Jasper that sounds like state rights…”
Jasper could feel the teacher’s exasperation like a slam in his face, and it fueled his own frustration.
“Yes, ma’am that is fundamentally the right of states but—these men were illiterate, they didn’t understand such…high falutin speech. Now personal pride, however…”
“And how does personal pride play into the enslavement of others I wonder…” Mrs. Robbins asked coolly. And Jasper could feel her suspicion of him grow. No no no, she was getting it all wrong.
“Ma’am it wasn’t ABOUT slavery in Texas,” Jasper insisted, his skin itchy as he felt his classmates shift from their bored resignation to a mix of curiosity and secondhand embarrassment. “It was about supporting our—their fellow countrymen—“
“And all the enslaved peoples were not their countrymen?” Mrs. Robbins pressed, and her disapproval was like a white-hot clamp around Jasper’s chest.
“You’re not understanding what these men fought for—“ Jasper’s voice shook with the anger he was trying to suppress. His eyes darted around the classroom at all his wide-eyed classmates starting to recoil from him.
He threw out his power to them, trying to will them to see his point of view. To see that he had been doing the right thing when he had lit the fuse on the cannon.
But he wasn’t in control of himself at the moment, and 20 pairs of eyes reflected back all the shame he had felt when he had learned the truth of the 'Just War' he had joined as a 17-year-old. How it had taken years in the vampire wars feeling the last agonizing moments of those unfortunate enough to find themselves ripped apart by his own two hands for him to untangle his feelings of grief and guilt from all the atrocities he had witnessed and committed.
“Jasper.”
Jasper blinked as Alice’s soft cool hand wrapped around his arm.
Her touch spread like a balm up through his arm into his body. Steadying him as he looked into her amber eyes.
“I hate to interrupt such an immersive presentation,” Alice said with a sparkling smile directed at Mrs. Robbins, “but the vice principal needs to see Jasper immediately.”
“I hope it’s nothing serious” Mrs. Robbins still looked ashen from the hurricane of feeling that Jasper had projected into the room.
“Nothing so serious that Jasper can’t finish his presentation first,” she turned her sparkling smile to Jasper. “Unless of course…you’re done.”
Jasper didn’t need to read minds like Edward to know what she was getting at. He could feel her intent like a cool breeze tickling his face.
“No I think that concludes my presentation,” Jasper said, channeling the cool feeling of Alice’s presence into a wave of calm over his classmates and teacher.
“I’m very impressed with the…passion you brought to your presentation” Mrs. Robbins beamed. “I’m not sure I’ve seen such a stirring performance, perhaps after your conversation with the vice principal you can turn in a short essay explaining your point later this week.”
“Thank you, ma’am” Jasper followed Alice as she tugged him out of the classroom.
“How did you know I needed help?” Jasper asked Alice after they reached the edge of the forest.
“I had a vision of Mrs. Robbin's body in a pool of blood surrounded by screaming high schoolers,” Alice said flatly, before beaming at Jasper “But you had it under control by the time I got there.”
Jasper looked down shamefully at his feet, knowing that in the corner of his brain he had identified the window he would have escaped through with his history teacher's head.
“But that future is gone now and you’re going to get an A on your presentation.” she intertwined her fingers into Jasper’s. “With my help of course.”
“Of course,” Jasper said, “what would I do without you?”