So the two Grizzlies decided to get together and make a story. We hope you like it.

Yep, that we did. And of course they'll like it, how could they not? ;) Enjoy away!

JPOV

Calculus, I grimaced, as I stared at the computer screen. I was still disgruntled that I had it at the best time for my schedule… with the worst teacher possible. At least my other class was a breeze – Civilizations with Stewart. Only complete numskulls couldn't get an A in his class. Hopefully it would balance out the negative of taking calculus.

I clicked off and got up, stretching. I already had most of my Senior Project completed, so I wasn't worried about that aspect like most seniors were. I'd learned long ago - back in kindergarten - that doing everything as soon as possible made life multitudes easier. So my break between first and second semester was completely relaxing.

That is, if you didn't count the exhausting, hair-pulling family get-togethers, the anxiety of waiting for college replies - which wouldn't come for another two months - and my parents insisting I go back and make sure everything was perfect for Senior Project. Of course, I had done that about a thousand times already, but hey, what was one more?

At least there was just one more week until I could escape their badgering for most of the day. There was one thing to be said for being at school from seven in the morning to six at night. You had plenty of time to avoid parents and badgering. We even had plenty of time for homework, since every other day had a free period, especially with classes that lasted an hour and a half, and ran on an A-day/B-day schedule. That is, until you factored in college classes among the high school ones, with college essays, tests, expectations.... And yet, we Middle College High School students always seemed to do better than the average college student at San Joaquin Delta College.

Going to high school and college at the same time could be hard, but we students were given plenty of opportunities to get the work done during school time. The "hard" work never felt difficult to me, and I had always excelled. Sometimes I still had to work for my "A", but I always got it. GPAs were important, and I wasn't about to let mine suffer for any reason.

Falling back onto the couch, I pulled out my cell and called Bella. She answered just before the voicemail picked up, and sounded snappy.

"What?"

"Hello to you too," I chuckled, smiling. "What, did I interrupt a book?"

"As a matter of fact, you did." she stated with a regal attitude before laughing at herself. "Seriously, though. What?"

"Are you sure you won't take calculus with me?"

She groaned. "Jasper, I told you - I don't do math. I wouldn't have even passed pre-calculus if you hadn't helped me. So, no, thank you. I'll stick to Civilizations class with you, and Humanities."

"Those are easy," I accused.

She laughed again. "Of course they are. It's our last semester as high-schoolers, Jasper. Why would I make my life more difficult by taking hard college classes?"

"Lazy ass," I teased. She just laughed. Bella had a point, which was why I had taken Civ instead of a biology class.

She sighed. "I can't believe we're never going to see each other again after this semester."

I groaned and laughed at the same time. Bella could be so dramatic. "Bella, we'll still see each other, and keep in touch."

"It won't be the same," she lamented. "We won't see everyone every day. I'm gonna miss all 58 of you, and even some of the underclassmen. Emails and phone calls won't fill that ache when you're all gone. Very few people actually manage to keep up communication for more than a few months, if that. What will I do without you and my girlfriends? I'll be lost and have a broken leg faster than you can say 'Bob's your uncle.'"

I just laughed at her. "Chill, Bells. I'm sure it won't be that bad. Besides, isn't Mai going to the same college as you?"

"If we get in - and if I can steal her away from her parents," she added. I snorted. Sometimes I had to wonder about her.

"So, how early are you getting to school when we go back?" I asked. It was the end of our third week of winter break, and after next week, we were back for our final semester as Middle College students. It would be daunting if I stopped to think about it.

Bella snorted. "My class isn't until ten Jasper. There is no way you are getting me there any earlier than nine-thirty."

Bella was lucky - mine started at eight in the morning, but it was better than the alternative - which would run into our lunch time. I had learned last year that scenario was not pleasant. It was almost unbearable.

You learned to deal with situations that you didn't like, such as having a class when you didn't want it or with a teacher who wasn't the easiest. It was how things were at our school. We weren't like every other high school in the area. It didn't let out in the early afternoon, and there was hardly ever extra credit. Grades were honestly worked for, and the teachers expected you to turn things in on time and to do the work and take it seriously. They wouldn't listen to excuses.

Or course, everyone was here because they wanted to be - or their parents wanted them to be - but in the end, very few if any of us wanted to leave. At such a small school, we were close, almost ridiculously so.

"So," Bella said, interrupting my wandering thoughts of our school. "You are finally going to buy the yearbook when we go back, right?"

I laughed. Bella was in the journalism class, which was taught by the math teacher. She ran the newspaper, and even helped with yearbook pages - and she called me an overachiever….

"Yes, Bella. I have the check in my wallet."

"Good," she said firmly. "There is no way you can't have one this year."

I could sense another lament coming on, so I changed the subject. "Have you seen anybody from school?" I asked. Bella lived in Stockton, the city where the school was located, and I lived in the next town over, Lodi. Even though the school was located in Stockton, it was part of Lodi district.

"Yeah," she said casually. "A couple of the guys and us girls went to see that new movie that came out. It was terrible; the only saving grace was the comments the guys made."

I chuckled, able to accurately imagine what the few other guys in our grade had said. "That bad, huh?"

She laughed loudly. "Worse. At least there was ice cream afterward."

The rest of the conversation was about unimportant subjects. Bella's family was the opposite of mine - she could probably fail all her classes this semester and her parents would still tell her she was brilliant and that it was okay. How she managed to get A's, read her countless books, and hang out with all her friends I'd never figure out.

By the time we hung up, my mom was home from work.

"Jasper!" she exclaimed, her grin wide and bright, "Guess what I found today during my break!" She came over and set a thick paperback book, much like the SAT practice ones, in my lap. I raised a brow at the title. Scholarships, Grants & Prizes.

She continued as I internally sighed. "You can look through it and find even more free money! Then you can go to Harvard or another one of those famous universities and we won't have to worry about the cost!"

I smiled at her. "Thanks, Mom."

Just a rather typical day in my life – well, when school wasn't in session. Still, there was one focal point in my life, and only one, and nothing came before it: get perfect grades so I can go to a well-known, expensive university and get more perfect grades so I can have a high-paying job and never have a worry in life.

I just had to get through all these daily worries first.

--

APOV

Oh God. Oh God oh God. They were supposed to come home tomorrow. Tomorrow. Why did they not choose to tell me they were home early until after they landed at JFK?

I thought I'd have all day today to clean up from the debauchery that went down last night.

"George! Go to the backyard! There's a ton of bottles out there!"

"Huh?" was the only response I received.

Shitshitshit. I don't know why I'm even trying. It's not like I can get this done before they get home. Maybe I can at least get it cleaned up to the point where they won't know just how massive the party was. I wonder if they'll notice I charged the DJ on the black AMEX…oh, and the bartender.

I had a huge Hefty bag and I was flinging bottles into it.

"GEORGE!" I screamed. That got his attention. My scream could wake the dead.

"Backyard! Bottles! NOW!" I pointed strenuously. He moved as if in slow motion, grabbed a Hefty bag and headed towards the backyard.

I could move fast, but I couldn't turn back time. Plus, my "helper" wasn't exactly working at full capacity. He was a good guy. It's too bad I was going to break up with him before school started. He was adorable, just not the sharpest tool in the shed.

I probably looked like death warmed over. My usually spikey hair hadn't been brushed since before the party and I was still in last night's choice of dress – something my parents didn't even know I owned. It didn't leave much to the imagination and it looked like I slept in it. I don't want to think about what my face looked like. Probably "clown" would be the best description. Waterproof mascara can only take so much. I would die if anyone saw me like this. Alice Cullen never ever didn't look put-together.

I was standing on the couch, reaching for a pair of boxers that somehow wound up hanging from the ceiling fan in the living room, when my parents walked in. I froze. What could I do now? There was no getting around what happened. The horrified look on their faces said it all.

"MARY-ALICE CULLEN!" my mother screeched. "WHAT THE HELL HAPPPENED HERE?" My dad just stood behind her, open-mouthed and wide-eyed, completely mute.

Crap. She used my full name.

"I'm sorry Mom. I was planning on getting a cleaning crew to come in today, but you surprised me by coming home early," I said sweetly, trying to look sheepish and cute at the same time. Being under five feet tall helped with the cuteness thing. However, the look on my mom's face let me know I needed to cut this shit out. She was beyond furious. I'd never seen her so livid before.

"This is it, young lady! We are through with your behavior, aren't we, Carlisle?" She looked back at my dad who continued to have that wide-eyed expression. I think he had gone into shock or something.

At this point George walked in with his Hefty bag full of bottles.

"I need another bag. There's still a lot more…" He froze, taking in the scene in front of him. Then he just dropped the bottles and ran out the back door.

"COWARD" I screamed. Well now I was definitely breaking up with him.

"Mary-Alice. This is it. I warned you the last time that I was not going to take this behavior anymore!" Wow. She sounded serious.

"Esme…" Thanks for coming out of the coma, Dad. I could really use your help right about now. "She knows what she did wrong, don't you sweetheart?" he asked, looking at me encouragingly.

"Yes! Yes I do! I fully and completely understand that my actions have been reprehensible! You can go ahead and ground me!" I was flailing. I had been grounded so many times, I'm surprised I've been out of the house at all in the past six months.

My mom sighed. "The groundings don't do any good." She wasn't angry anymore. She just looked…disappointed. That was far worse. I sunk down onto the couch. She came and sat beside me. My dad kept taking in the new decorations.

"I'll get the rest of the bags and call the cleaning crew," he said, and went out to the car. Mom came and sat beside me and took my hands. She looked at me and the saddest most defeated expression was on her face. I felt like the worst daughter in the world. Tears came to my eyes.

"Mom, I'm so so so sorry. I don't know why I do these things. I can't seem to help myself." I put my head down. I couldn't stand to look into those sad eyes anymore.

My mom sighed. "Honey, we both know groundings don't work. I've just come to the end of my rope here. I don't know what else to do. I'm going to have to do something drastic. I'm just not sure yet what it will be."

I looked at her. "Drastic"? That didn't sound good.

"How drastic?" I asked with a trembling voice.

"Very," she said, with a determination I'd never seen in her. It scared the life out of me.

"I have an idea, but I have to iron out the details. Once I'm sure, I'll let you know. Now please, go upstairs to your room." She was looking down now.

I got up on heavy legs and walked towards the stairs. Dad was just bringing in the last suitcase and he noted the sad expression on my face. I gave him a weak smile.

"Thanks for trying Dad," I said, and headed up the stairs to await whatever drastic measure was coming my way. This would be the worst day of my life. I was sure of it.

So, B, what do you think? Is Alice in as much trouble as she thinks she is? Will Jasper ever loosen up?

I don't know, D. Jasper, loosen up? Sounds kind of absurd to me....