Chapter Text
It started with the bucket list.
Jessica had always had a bucket list. It was practically a rite of passage for any teenage girl to dream of the places she wanted to visit and the things she wanted to do. Her list featured the classics: kissing in front of the Eiffel Tower, the giant-swing-with-a-dress photoshoot, riding in a hot air balloon. It wasn’t until Jessica’s most recent break-up with Mike that she finally took Angela’s advice to add “they’re not boring, Jess, they’re normal” things to the bucket list -- things she could cross off now, quick and easy.
Such as taking a photography walk. Whatever that was.
Jessica didn’t like to walk -- she didn’t become the star of the track team by walking -- and she also didn’t have a camera, unless you counted the one on her phone, and there was literally nothing to take pictures of. Just houses and trees and clouds. It was also going to rain soon. Jessica eyed the steel-gray sky. She’d curled her hair today, and she would be very upset if her curls were ruined before she’d gotten the chance to pass by the Newton’s store. Just to show Mike what he was missing out on, of course.
She was considering turning around before the rain hit when the rumble of an engine reached her ears. A red car was roaring down the street, and it slowed as it approached her. Jessica took a few steps back, wary, but she relaxed when she saw who was inside.
“Hey, Jake,” she called. “What are you doing all the way out here?”
For once, Jacob didn’t smile. He was tense, his jaw set, and there was a hard look in his eyes. “I’m headed to Bella’s. Listen, you two are friends, right?”
Jessica’s mood soured. “Not since she went to talk to a bunch of strangers outside a bar. I don’t know what the hell she was thinking -- they could’ve been psychopaths!” The more Jessica thought about that night, the angrier she got. How could Bella just do that? Without even caring that of course Jessica was going to follow her, because clearly Bella had no self-preservation instincts! And then she had the audacity to fucking thank her and call the night “fun” after Jessica took her back home!
“You know, you should come with us,” Embry interrupted her mid-rant.
Jessica gaped. “Did you not hear what I just said about approaching creepy men like a suicidal maniac?”
“No! No!” Embry waved his hands frantically. “I just meant that you, uh. You’re a smart person. Maybe you can talk some sense into Bella.” He frowned. “Wait, are we creepy?”
“Trust me,” Jessica snorted, “there is no ‘talking sense’ into Bella Swan.”
“Please?” Jacob said, and now that Jessica was looking closer, she could see his desperation. Jesus Christ. Bella really had him wrapped around her finger.
“Fine.” Jessica stomped over to the car and opened the door. Embry beamed at her and scooted over so she could slide in next to him. At least if it started raining, she wouldn’t get wet. “So what'd Bella do this time?”
The boys shared a look. Jessica rolled her eyes at their obvious hesitation. She needed to know what the fuck was going if she’d have any chance at getting through Bella’s thick skull.
Finally, Jared said, “One of the Cullens is back.”
“Wait, what? Who?” Because if Bella was taking Edward back, Jessica was going to throttle her--
“We don’t know yet,” Jacob said grimly. “But I’m going to find out.”
They pulled up to Bella’s house. Jacob was out of the car before it had even come to a stop, stalking up to the front door. His face was smooth, mask-like, but hostility rolled off him in waves. Jessica eyed his trembling hands with the stirrings of something that felt like fear. Like she was a rabbit standing next to a lion.
Before she could dissect the feeling, the door opened. Bella took them in -- wary, but unsurprised, though her brows lifted slightly when she saw Jessica -- and raised her chin. “Hey.”
“Hey, Bella.” Jessica couldn’t quite keep the annoyance out of her voice.
But Bella only had eyes for Jacob. “She’s not here. Do you need something?”
Jacob hesitated. “You’re alone?”
“Yes,” Bella sighed.
“Who was here?” Jessica asked.
Jacob didn’t look away from Bella. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Of course you can, Jacob. Come on in.”
As Jacob glanced over his shoulder at his friends in the car, Jessica stepped forward. “Does that invitation extend to me as well . . . ?”
“Only if Jacob isn’t too chicken to come in,” Bella said, defiant.
“Ooo-kay.”
Jessica might’ve thrown in the towel -- it was obvious Bella didn’t want her help, and Jessica wasn’t running some charity here -- if Jacob hadn’t set his jaw and marched into the living room. She considered getting the hell out of here, but if a Cullen really had come back to Forks, the opportunity for gossip was too good to pass up.
“Slumber party?” Jacob asked, his tone sarcastic as he glanced at the mess of blankets in the living room.
“Yeah,” Bella replied, with equal acidity. “What’s it to you?”
He wrinkled his nose. “Where’s your ‘friend?’”
Bella shifted. “She had some errands to run. Look, Jacob, what do you want? Why is Jessica here?”
“Wow, rude much?” Jessica said.
She was summarily ignored. Bella and Jacob were argue-talking in the kitchen now, voices low enough that Jessica couldn’t make out any words. She would’ve moved closer to eavesdrop if it weren’t for the warning looks the two both threw her way. Jessica raised her palms. Message received.
While they were in the kitchen, Jessica looked around the living room. There were frames hanging on the walls, pictures of Bella at various stages of life. Huh. Who knew Bella Swan was a surprisingly cute kid? Jessica’s fingers itched with the urge to snap a photo.
Jessica was startled out of the bookshelf she was perusing by the sound of the home phone ringing. She waited for someone to answer but after a few moments of ringing in which it was clear Jacob and Bella were too preoccupied, Jessica picked up the phone. It was an unknown number. Might as well deter another scam call to the Swans. She’d basically be doing them a favor.
“Swan residence,” she said.
“This is Dr. Carlisle Cullen,” a smooth voice replied. Jessica almost dropped the phone in shock. “May I please speak to Charlie?”
“He’s not here right now,” she said, dazed. “I can take a message if you want.”
“Well, where is he then?”
“At the funeral. His--”
The caller hung up.
“--friend passed away.” Jessica stared at the phone. “Okay then.”
“You listen to me, Jacob Black--” Bella stormed out of the kitchen, hot on Jacob’s heels.
Jessica backed away from the happy couple, wondering if she should just . . . slip out the door. She was halfway there when there was a rush of wind, and suddenly she was hallucinating Alice Cullen appearing in front of her like the villain from some slasher.
Jessica blinked. Nope. Not a hallucination.
“Bella,” Alice choked. Her eyes were dazed and far away, and her face was whiter than Jessica had ever seen it, which was really saying something.
“Alice?” Bella cried. “What’s wrong?”
“Edward,” she breathed.
“Of fucking course,” Jessica muttered. “You know what, I’m just gonna scootch on outta here--”
“No.” Alice’s voice was sharper than Jessica had ever heard it. She stopped in her tracks, frozen by some primal instinct that told her not to take another step. “Sorry, Jessica. But you’re going to have to stay here.”
Jessica unfroze and crossed her arms. “Why?”
“We don’t have time for this!” Did Alice just growl? “Look, I know you want to get into Oxford. If you do everything I tell you to do for the next seventy-two hours, then I personally guarantee that you’ll be accepted, and you won’t have to pay a single penny. We’re rich,” she said, cutting Jessica’s questions off, “and Carlisle has connections. Trust me, your future is secure.”
Jesus H. Christ. This was insane. Alice was insane. Genuinely, certifiably, get-committed-to-a-psych-ward insane. But -- how did she know Jessica applied to Oxford? Nobody knew. Nobody.
“Jessica, please” Alice urged. Her eyes shone with desperation, and what was it with people begging Jessica to do random shit today? “Seventy-two hours, and your life will change completely. I promise.”
“Fucking -- fine!” Jessica threw her hands up and had barely begun to regret her choice when Alice hurried to Bella, who had entered zombie-mode all over again. Jessica tuned it all out as she texted her parents to let her know she’d be sleeping over with Lauren this weekend. Then she immediately texted Lauren that she was at Alice’s whim for the next three days, and if she didn’t show up to school on Monday, to call the fucking cops.
“Jessica.” Alice was in front of her again. “What exactly did you say on the phone?”
“Your dad asked for Charlie, and I told him Charlie wasn’t here.”
“Is that everything?” Alice demanded.
“Well, he asked where Charlie was, and I said he was at the funeral. Then he hung up on me. Why? What’s going on?”
The next minutes felt like it was a scene straight from a B-rated romantic dramedy. Whether it was a drama-comedy or a drama-tragedy remained to be seen, because Jessica’s eyebrows were at her hairline by the time Bella was frantically scrawling a note, and Alice was herding her into the Mercedes. For the supposed time crunch they had before Edward offed himself, Bella and Jacob sure had enough time for a tearful goodbye.
Alice had somehow procured Jessica’s passport, and didn’t even blink an eye when she wanted to fly first-class, only swiped her credit card and ushered her onto the plane. If this was an attempt at bribery, Jessica could confidently say it was working. She sampled the seared scallops and the caviar, and drank two glasses of some fancy French wine she couldn’t pronounce. Bless European drinking laws.
When they got to Volterra, Alice and Bella disappeared in a literal blink of an eye. Jessica, having never received clear instructions on what the fuck was she supposed to do stranded here or why she was even here in the first place, did exactly what any reasonable girl would do when suddenly finding herself in a foreign country, with nothing but a swanky sports car, a black card, and a bucket list.
She went skydiving.
There was a place a few miles away. Jessica drove with the windows down to let the afternoon air blow against her face and through her hair, whipping it around her. Italian pop music blasted from the speakers, and Jessica knew she wouldn't be able to go back to her Toyota after this.
She mentally added Buy a Porsche to her bucket list, somewhere after Become a kick-ass lawyer.
An hour later, she was in a rickety airplane flying over Tuscany. Her companion, a tall Italian man with a questionable mullet, was belting out the lyrics to a Taylor Swift song as he went over their final safety checks. The harness connecting them looked worryingly old, but Jessica figured it was too late to back out at this point. She peered outside. The ground was a terrifying distance away. Only one way down.
“Don’t worry!” her companion shouted to be heard in the loud open cabin. Jessica quickly schooled her expression, but he just laughed. “Think happy thoughts!”
“What?”
“Happy thoughts! I read that on a poster!”
Right. This was Jessica’s life now. At least for the next, what, sixty hours?
Might as well accept the absurdity of life, or whatever that one philosopher guy had said.
“Happy thoughts!” Jessica screamed. And then all the air was ripped from her lungs as the man flung them out into the open air.
They were surrounded by sky, they were spinning around and around and around, Jessica shrieked in terror and pure, unfiltered delight, and then the world came right side up again and they were falling, floating.
Oh.
It was like nothing she had ever felt. The roar of wind was more intoxicating than any drug, and the earth was a patchwork of blues and greens, and in the distance she could see tiny cities she didn’t know the name of but instantly wanted to visit. Jessica was struck with the sudden wish that these seventy-two hours would never end. She didn’t know how she could ever go back to Forks and that too-small life. Even Seattle seemed less-than, compared to this.
“I think I want to live here one day,” she screamed, as they floated together in the sky.
“What?” he yelled back.
Jessica just grinned. “Happy thoughts!” And then, because it was cathartic, she screamed, “Fuck this shit!”
He laughed and she whooped at the spread of Italy before them, and it was pure, magnificent chaos. She felt breathless, weightless.
She went again and again, and the exhilaration was just as intense as the first time. She understood adrenaline junkies a lot better now. Who needed drugs when you had a high like this?
When it was closing time, the diving instructor waved her over to an outdoor bar connected to the little building. Fairy lights were strung above them, and a sultry voice crooned out an unfamiliar tune from the speakers. Jessica got a tropical alcoholic drink from the juice bar and let herself be swept onto the dance floor, dancing to the music and cheering with everyone else whenever somebody did a particularly skillful dance move. For once, Jessica didn’t feel the urge to be that person, in the spotlight. She felt relaxed, carefree. Of course, she was also pretty drunk.
“Are you from around here?” a guy asked. They’d been making eye contact from across the bar. He had a buzz cut and a tattoo and an Italian accent, and he was so different from anyone Jessica had ever met.
“No,” she said, over the music. “My sort-of-friend’s ex-boyfriend’s sister brought me here. The ex is trying to use big bad secret vampire mafia to commit suicide.”
His forehead creased. “Maybe my English isn’t as good as I thought. But, mafia, I get. Your boyfriend wants to die?”
Using the word mafia in Italy probably wasn’t the smartest decision. But Smart Jessica had yeeted it off somewhere between her third and fourth drink.
“I don’t have a boyfriend. We broke up.”
“Ah, I see.” He nodded. “In that case, do you want to see the sunset with me? I know a good spot.”
Jessica narrowed her eyes at him. “Are you going to murder me?”
“Ha ha, no. My name is Pablo.”
She considered. Shrugged. “Okay. Let’s go.”
They drove up one of those rolling hills that Tuscany seemed to have no shortage of, and settled over a cliff edge to pass a bottle of liquor between them. She couldn’t read the label, but it was bitter and disgusting, and Pablo laughed when she took the first sip. She laughed too, though, when he also made a face, and soon enough they stuck in a cycle of laughing as they challenged each other to who could drink the most without gagging.
Maybe Jessica had judged Bella too soon for approaching strangers. But in her defense, Pablo was actually her age! And he wasn’t hanging with his “friends” around some seedy bar in a city with an above-average crime rate! Well, maybe this bar was a little seedy. But still! Jessica wasn’t stupid. There was no way the vampire mafia was going to let her walk free -- not with that one telepathic dude who could apparently see every single thing you’ve ever thought. She was going to die anyway, might as well make stupid decisions and get drunk off her ass and see the sunset with a maybe-murderer named Pablo.
“This should be on everyone’s bucket list,” Jessica said. She was lying on her back, hands beneath her head and knees resting on the edge.
“Bucket list,” Pablo said each syllable slowly. “What does it mean?”
“It’s a list of things you want to do before you kick the bucket. You know, die. Like run a marathon or whatever.”
“Have you? Run a marathon?"
“Yeah.” Jessica stared up at the clouds of pastel pink and spun gold. “But my friend said I need to add more ‘normal’ things to my list.”
“But you are here, in Italy, far from home,” Pablo pointed out. “I don’t think normal is for you. You are not made for normal.”
“Probably not,” she admitted. And for some reason -- maybe the alcohol sloshing in her stomach, maybe the wide open sky above her, maybe the fact that in a few short hours she’d probably be dead -- she confessed, “My ex always said I was trying so hard to be extraordinary that I couldn’t see anything except in terms of winning or losing.”
“Idiota,” Pablo said.
“Yeah,” Jessica laughed. “He was an idiot.”
“Yes. Then your friend said you need to be more normal?”
“Angie didn’t mean anything by it, I know she didn’t. She doesn’t even know that’s why Mike and I broke up again.”
“Ah. I think I see. You are -- what is the word? Ambiziosa, you want more. It is not a bad thing,” he said when Jessica opened her mouth. “It is a difference of values, the wrong person. Right?”
“Right,” Jessica said, distracted by the buzzing of her phone.
Bella:
Where are you???
Jessica stared at the words for a few seconds. Well, time’s up. She had a decent run at things.
She stood up. “Hey, thanks for taking me here. It’s a sweet spot.”
“Anytime,” Pablo said. “Next time you’re here, come find me. I want to hear more about this ex, then I will tell you about mine. He is what you Americans might call, ah, a ‘jackass.’”
She laughed again. There wouldn't be a next time. “Stay away from jackasses, Pablo.”
Jessica dropped him off at the bar where he’d parked his car, and then drove back to Volterra. In the rearview mirror, she caught a glimpse of herself: her hair was a windblown mess, curls completely ruined. But her skin was glowing in the fading daylight, and her eyes were bright. Happy.
Who knew a stupid photography walk would lead to all this?
Jessica started the car, humming along to “Opalite”. She took the scenic route back to Volterra, racing down long, cypress-lined roads. It looked like something out of a movie, and with a hand out the window to catch the breeze, she felt like the leading actress. The one whose character died a sudden and tragic death at the end.
When Jessica arrived in front of a goddamn castle, a man came up to the Porsche. “Miss Stanley?”
“Who wants to know?” Jessica retorted, refusing to lower the window more than an inch.
“Mr. Cullen, Miss Cullen, and Miss Swan are waiting for you.”
Jessica sighed and got out of the car. The man introduced himself as Demetri and led her into the castle and through winding hallways, and the deeper they went, the more nervous Jessica got. The warmth and confidence from the booze had been stripped away, replaced by the chill of impending doom. She didn’t notice when Demetri came to a stop, and almost crashed into him.
“My lady.”
Jessica frowned at the address, but Demetri just nodded toward the doors. With trepidation, she pushed them open.
It was a sitting room, with surprisingly modern decorations, but a regular room nonetheless. Jessica could have sighed with relief. That was, until she noticed the three men who had risen to their feet.
“Jessica.” Alice had stepped forward, her tone welcoming. But her eyes. They shone with silent apology. “I’d like to introduce you to Aro, Caius, and Marcus of the Volturi. My lords, this is Jessica Stanley.”
“How delightful to finally meet you!” one of them said. His voice was distractingly beautiful.
“A pleasure,” she managed.
His grin widened. “Oh, I assure you, the pleasure is all mine.”
Oh. My. God, Jessica thought, a little hysterically. I’m about to get sucked dry like a Capri-sun. I haven’t even crossed zip-lining off my bucket list!
She immediately wanted to slap herself in the face. There were better things to think about, namely how she was going to die!
“You’re not going to die, Jessica,” Edward -- the mind reader(!) -- sighed. He had his arms wrapped about a white-faced Bella.
“Speak to her like that again and I will remove your tongue,” one of the kings hissed. Jessica swung her look of disbelief to him. He just raised a brow.
“Peace,” the third king said. He smiled at Jessica, blood-red eyes crinkling at the corners. “I am Marcus. I know this is a frightening experience, but it will all make sense in time. Please, would you like to sit?”
No, no she didn’t. But although Marcus was still smiling, Jessica figured she didn’t exactly have a choice.
She sat.
Jessica liked to think she wasn’t a bad person. She wasn’t great. She wasn't kind-hearted like Angela, or compassionate like Bella, or even empathetic like Lauren could be sometimes. Jessica was jealous and insecure and liked gossip a bit too much. She was a try-hard at everything and hated losing with a burning passion. But she’d always thought that deep down, at her core, there was something redeemable.
But maybe all those times she'd lied to Lauren about her mascara being smudged, or let Tyler copy the “right” answer, or hit Bella in the face with a volleyball, or or or.
Well. Karma had finally caught up to her, and it was here to fuck her up the ass.
Edward coughed and rubbed his nose. Aro cut himself off mid-sentence, and Jessica would’ve mourned the loss of that beautiful, mellifluous voice if she hadn’t been mentally cursing Edward out as loud as humanly possible (pun not-intended).
“Something to add, Edward?” Aro said, perfectly polite.
“Not at all,” Edward said mildly.
It was obvious nobody believed him -- if anything, Aro looked even more intrigued, and for a second Jessica was terrified he’d take Edward’s hand -- but after a beat, he continued talking about mates and bonds.
Maybe she didn't need to worry about it so literally. The kings were like three thousand years old, they were probably too old-fashioned for anal.
Edward made a strangled sound. Aro paused again.
“Speak, boy,” Caius demanded.
Jessica jumped to her feet. “It doesn’t matter,” she said, then cringed at how she’d interrupted a leader of the fucking vampire mafia. Well, she was bound to put her foot in her mouth sooner or later. Might as well get it over with. “So just to be clear. In the span of twenty-four hours, I’ve been bribed, kidnapped, flown across an ocean, and abandoned in Italy, and now I’ve been promised to three evil vampire overlords?”
Marcus opened his mouth, probably to say something reassuring, but Caius cut him off: “Yes.”
Jessica. Jessica had no words. None. Nada. Zilch.
This wasn’t on her bucket list.
You know what, fuck photography walks. Fuck bucket lists.