Disclaimer: All characters belong to Ms. Meyer.


Renesmee

"Do you ever feel like you just don't belong anywhere?" I picked at the ends of my hair, trying to choose my next words carefully. The truth was that I was terrified of starting high school next week. I'd never spent much time outside of the house in the past five years, and when I had, someone had always been there. Mom, dad, Jake, Aunt Alice, Grandpa Charlie… someone. But after a year of begging, I'd finally gotten my wish. I was going to get to start high school. Grandpa Carlisle said that my growth rate had slowed dramatically. I was only supposed to grow two physical years per calendar year until I was fully-grown at seven. Mom thought that would be too much change at once, but Grandpa had reminded her that even human teenagers grow all strangely during puberty.

So I'd won that argument. I was going to school, but suddenly, I wasn't so sure I wanted to go alone. Over the next few days, we would be moving back to Ithaca, where I knew Grandpa and Grandma kept a house. Everyone except me would be going to Cornell. Dad said it was because no one had been to college in a while, so it would be a nice break from high school, but Aunt Alice told me it was because he didn't want to have to listen to gross teenage thoughts about me. I didn't blame him. I wanted to ask Jake if he would start school with me, but I any time I thought about it, I felt like a jerk for asking him to leave the rez.

He had a pack here, and he had a home here. I couldn't ask him to leave all that just because I was scared for the first day of school.

"Ness? Nessie?" A hand waved in front of my face.

"Sorry! What?"

"Are you okay?" Concern was etched all over Jake's face, and I knew he worried about me as much as my mom and dad did sometimes.

I shook my head and let out a breath through my nose. "I'm fine. I guess I'm just nervous."

"For your party?"

I shook my head again. "No. Just for everything over the next few weeks, I guess. Moving, starting school…"

"… Turning five?" He smirked up at me.

"Shut up," I smacked his shoulder and pretended to shove him off my bed. Since he was about a thousand pounds, I knew I couldn't actually move him, but I hoped he got the sentiment. "You know what I mean."

He pulled me into a hug and put his chin on top of my head. "I know what you mean, and you really have nothing to worry about. Everyone's going to love you."

"How do you know?" I hated sounding like kid around him, but I had to get all my worries out now if I was going to enjoy my party.

"Because anyone you've ever met has loved you," he answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Would it help if I told you a certain someone got accepted to Cornell?"

I stared at him, narrowing my eyes until they were almost closed. "What are you talking about?"

"Your dad convinced me to apply a few months ago, and I figured it couldn't hurt. So I did, and," he stopped to scratch the back of his neck, "I guess I'm going to Ithaca with you guys."

I could swear my heart stopped for a minute. "You're not messing with me, right?"

"I'm not. I swear, Ness. If you want me to, I can go with you guys."

I screamed and launched myself at him, throwing my arms around his neck. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! Are you sure it's okay? What about the pack? And Billy? And—"

"Ness," he laughed, stopping me short. "I'm taking care of it. Besides, every alpha needs a college education, right?"

"But—"

"Plus Sam is still technically an alpha, and Leah's a beta. There's plenty of leaders to go around. And it's not like I'll ever really be too far away. From what we've gathered, the pack mind doesn't really have any limits." He said the last part with a scowl, but I felt relief bubble in my chest. He'd clearly put a lot of thought into this and maybe, things would be okay.

"Thank you, Jake." I hoped he knew how thankful I was for this. Now if anyone was mean, I could sic Jake on them. Not really, though. It was just a nice thought.

There was a knock on the door before it opened a crack. "Renesmee? I think your guests are starting to arrive."

"My guests?" I cocked an eyebrow in a perfect imitation of the man at the door.

"It is your birthday party," he smirked.

"And everyone's going away party. Technically." I gave him a sweet smile before bouncing off the bed to kiss his cheek. "I'll be right downstairs, daddy."

He nodded once to me, and once to acknowledge Jake before he headed back down the stairs.

"Ready?" I asked, reaching my arm out towards him.

Like always, he linked his arm through mine and walked me out of my room.

Bella

"Edward, are you sure it's not too soon? We could stay until she turns seven, and if you really want to go to college again, we might be able to go to the University of Washington…"

"Bella, darling, you're worrying too much," he bent over and kissed my forehead. I frowned. That was something I already knew.

I just couldn't help it. After five years of routine, everything was changing so fast. I knew this was just part of being a Cullen, but I'd never personally experienced it before, and I wasn't sure I liked it very much. For the past few days, we'd getting ready for this hybrid Nessie's 5th Birthday/Goodbye Forks party and every second of the planning was breaking my heart. I thought I could handle starting at Cornell in a few weeks, and I even thought I could handle Nessie starting high school. I just hated thinking about the fact that we were leaving Charlie and so much of out Forks family behind.

Edward kept saying we could visit whenever we wanted, but it still wouldn't be the same. I'd have to take a plane when I wanted my father's comfort or to go to the bonfires on First Beach. What if something happened while I was gone? Just the thought made me shiver. I told myself that it was completely normal for people to go off to college and leave home for a little while. Maybe I could convince everyone to move back when we finished at Cornell, though I didn't know how possible that would be.

"Heads up, Bells," I heard a voice outside my thoughts and looked up just in time to catch a bottle of mustard.

"I thought there was supposed to be a party going on here." Jake was smiling as he sauntered up to me, arm in arm with Nessie. I was glad he'd be going with us. I didn't think Nessie would cope well if she had had to leave him behind.

"Sorry. I was just thinking about how crazy it is to be leaving Forks," I shook my head.

"Like mother, like daughter," he ruffled my hair.

I swatted his hand away, and stuck my tongue out at him. "You'll be feeling it too, just wait," I teased, throwing the mustard bottle back at him a little harder than necessary. "They're your pack brothers, your responsibility," I joked, heading back into the kitchen to help Esme put together the hundreds of burgers and hot dogs the wolves would eat within half an hour.


Hi everyone! It's been a while since I've written my own story, so please bear with me as I get back into the swing of things. Now that I finally have a regular schedule, I'm really excited about getting to create again! I'll be updating again in a few days. See you then!

xoxo yours truly