SUNRISE: Renesmee's story
Chapter 1: THE BEGINNING
The late evening sun was just setting on the Cullen house, its large windows reflecting the dull light, the woodsy surroundings making its shimmery slightly green. The fragile glass windows, that was really more like invisible walls, invited the wood's atmosphere right in: Squirrels chewing, birds flapping their wings, flowers stretching themselves towards the sunlight, pines bending ever so slightly in the summer breeze… One could hear it all, see it all. The lighting was beautiful, the colors were clear, almost sharp. This magnificent, beautiful place was home. Renesmee's home. And it had been, for all the 6 years she had been alive.
She spun around on her heel at the sound of footsteps approaching – guessing, by the efficient yet elegant walk that the first pair of feet belonged to her dad, and that the lighter, though slightly clumsier walk (if such a word could ever be used to describe the elegant walk of a vampire) belonged to her mother. At the quiet laughs, the gently whispered "I love you"s, and the soft smiles exchanged – she could literally hear her father smile, and her mother's rolling eyes – she already knew who was coming to check up on her.
"Honey, what are you doing here? They won't be back before tomorrow morning." Her mother looked at her with her warm, though questioning golden eyes, smiling so slightly to her beloved daughter. Renesmee understood why they had come. After all, she was, if not acting straight out weird, certainly acting in a curios manner. She was standing in the middle of the Cullen house, watching the living room, the piano, the wood outside the window, and yet, there was no one there. Alice, Rosalie, Carlisle, Emmet, Jaspar, Esme – they were all out hunting.
"I know." She answered her with a shrug, trying to keep her voice nonchalant, normal. She knew that very well. She had just needed to escape the stone cottage for a while; she had needed to think. The cottage was just lovely – she loved it more than any other teenager could possibly love their house – but nothing cleared her mind more than the beautiful sunlight that emerged, first though the wood's tangled mess of pine-branches, and then through the Cullen-house's huge windows. Besides, it did help that her father couldn't hear her thoughts that loud when she was in another house. Half annoyed, half amused she smiled to her father, to whom she knew now heard every word of her conflicted mind.
With great seriousness he bent over and looked his daughter deep into her chocolate-brown eyes. "You will be fine. A hundred percent fine. In fact, you will be great. And you mother and I will be so unconditionally proud of you, no matter what happens." He had, as he had always done, sensed her worry. Her mother picked up on the situation at once. "You will blend inn perfectly," she said, smiling reassuringly, grabbing her hand. "You have rosy cheeks, brown eyes and a beating heart of gold! If anyone of us palefaces has managed to find our place in high school, you certainly will. I am absolutely sure of it." They seemed so certain, so confident, that Renesmee almost believed them. She was thankful of their support, she really was, but right then and there she just wanted to be alone with her thoughts. Before she had even finished her line of thought, her father gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and said: "We'll be in the stone cottage if you need us. Dinner in an hour! You need to be strong for your first day at school." He winked at her, and with two kind smiles, her parents disappeared out the door. Once more, Renesmee was left alone.
For a second she regretted her decision to be left alone; her nerves almost got the best of her. But yet, there was, deep deep down in her belly somewhere, a feeling of excitement that grew with quickening force. Tomorrow, she would start at high school. Tomorrow, she would surround herself with others of her age. Or, she added to her amusement, there would probably not be any other 6-yearolds there, but before she could think more of the confusing fact that she was the only one of her kind, she envisioned herself in the corridors – normal-looking, humanly and with a circle of friendly-looking, happy teenage girls. A warm feeling of happiness jolted through her body. No more of this lonely existence in the wood holt! The thought of having friends, real, teenage friends, made her nerves disappear long enough to give room for her blossoming enthusiasm. It would be great. It had to be. Somehow, she felt like tomorrow would define how she would fit into the world of humans. And, in many ways, she was right.
She woke early the next day, and to her surprise, she realized a bright sunlight was the source of her awakening. She frowned in surprise. Forks was not really known for its fine weather. But then again its constant cover of grey fog and clouds was quite convenient for her parents – just as today's sunlight was quite convenient for her. That way, she was ensured that no part of her blood-drinking vampire family would embarrass her, waling her to school or anything equally embarrassing. She shredded at the though. Then, as the idea of actually attending school washed over her yet again, she smiled widely. Then she felt like crying – or maybe puking, if that was even possible for her. She made a mental note to ask Carlisle about it later. The uncertainty of her species had a tendency to be either annoying or terrifying, or both at once. This very morning, however, as for the first time in her life, that did not seem like the most important thing in her world. The fact that she was going to socialize with real human beings seemed far more significant.
She got out of bed in her typical quick, elegant manner and then silently cursed. Damn! She shook her head, angry at herself for already forgetting it. She had to act human from now on; it was essential. There was no way she would risk the safety of her family – risk moving from Forks, leaving Charlie and Jacob everyone she loved behind. Her heart made a sudden jump, but she brushed it off as a reaction to leaving Forks. Deep down – very, very deep down – she knew, however reluctantly, that her heartjump might somehow have more to do with Jacob than with anyone or anything else. At this special day, she would not let herself dwell on him, she had plenty of time to do that later. Now, she had to focus on the task ahead of her: Get to school. Act human. Go home. Survive the first day of high school. She repeated this doctrine many times to herself as she got back into bed, and got up again, but in a slower – far more humanly – manner. She walked very slowly across her bedroom, repeating 'get to school'. She opened her closet. 'Act human'. She picked out an outfit. 'Go home'. In a very convincing way, she acted purposely clumsy as she pulled her purple oversized-knitted sweater over her head. She smiled, smug and satisfied with her humanly performance, as she pulled on her very tight, very expensive looking jeans. She picked up some ankle boots from the floor in the corner and quickly pulled them on too. She found her bag under the bed, stuffed in some notebooks and pens into it, and threw it over her shoulder. With an excited skip, she partly danced, partly ran out of her room and into the bathroom.
She liked the fact that their bathroom – meaning her mother's, her father's and hers – was much more modest, much cuter and a lot homier than the Cullens'. She had, though more out of politeness, gratitude and love than interest, let her aunt Alice pick her wardrobe and do her cloths shopping. That did not mean she was obsessed with expensive designer stuff. She suspected she was a lot like her mother in that sense. She too seemed to prefer the modest stone cottage, its homey atmosphere with small lamps, rugs and a little fireplace, than the massive designer palace of the Cullens. Although, she had to sheepishly admit, she wouldn't mind having their windows; they created a woodsy atmosphere she had a particularly soft spot for. Even so, the cottagey, modest interior of the bathroom made her overheated nerves cool off a little. It reminded her so much of her beloved parents, of her family, of her home, that it made everything else seem irrelevant – even her first day at school seemed less important in comparison.
The thought of her first day at school shook her back into reality, and she told herself quite strictly to stop thinking about interior. As if she didn't have enough on her mind right now! She shook her head in disbelief of her own stupidity, and started inspecting herself in the oval mirror above the sink. Her bronze colored hair was incredibly thick and naturally voluminous in all the right placed; its waves was big and gorgeous, making her hair seem tidy and curly simultaneously. Her chocolate brown eyes were big – huge, almost – with long, black eyelashes that framed them so beautifully. Except from her slightly rosy cheeks, her skin was fair and smooth – almost like a baby's. Her mouth had a nice, natural redish color that made her mouth look like a doll's, perfectly plump and very desirable. She had to admit to herself that she looked alright; she seemed to have inherited her father's impeccability, perfection and external attractiveness, yet she still had her mother's humbleness, kindness and slightly social uncomfortableness. However perfect and beautiful she might be, she – as all teenage girls – still seemed to find some imperfections: In the right light, she found her chin too round and her eyes too big. Yet in reality, her cheeks made her look young, fresh, healthy and beautiful, and her eyes gave her a curious, interested expression that would soon make every single guy at Forks high school fall in love with her – not that she would notice. She would be too focused on the revolutionary experience of attending school for the first time.
Renesmee had yet again lost focus – today seemed to have that effect on her – and soon hurried to get ready. Not that she actually was in a hurry, but she was excited, and that had nearly the same effect, and certainly the same result. She brushed her hair, and thought about putting makeup on. She could put on some mascara, but that would do nothing for her – her eyelashes were already extremely long, extremely pretty and had a deep black color that suited her brown eyes perfectly. She then thought of putting on some concealer, powder, rough, eyeliner or whatever, but she always came to the same conclusion: The human cosmetics would only ruin her features; she was as close to perfect as anyone could ever get. Therefore, she could neither straighten her hair or curl it; it already looked like she had stepped out of a commercial for unnecessarily expensive shampoo. She became a little saddened by this, as it made her feel inhuman and more like a vampire than a human, but she refused to let it ruin her excitement. She decided to think positive: She was pretty, very pretty, and as she was a girl, the thought of it made her a little proud. Even though she was not a very superficial girl, the confidence boost made her feel warm and strong – feelings she especially welcomed today.
As she realized she had little to do in the bathroom – even brushing her teeth was unnecessary, her breath smelled naturally of peppermint and the color of her teeth was a shining white – she quickly ended up in the kitchen. Her mother and father was already there, of course, as they had not slept in years. Renesmee was always a little embarrassed at the thought of what they would do to pass time during the nights, and then, realizing her father might pay attention to her thoughts, she hurried to change course. "Good morning." she said, as to interrupt her own thoughts. She opened the refrigerator that was filled purely for her sake, and struggled for a while to choose between a glass of fresh deerblood or a strawberry yoghurt. At the thought of eating human food every day at school for the next three years of her life, she quickly turned to the blood. As always the taste was good, though not completely satisfying. She talked a little to her parents, trying to ignore the growing butterflies in her stomach. As if sensing her uneasiness (and he probably did, too, Renesmee reminded herself), her father turned to her.
"Do you want to go over the basic steps?" He kindly asked her. Feeling a little sick she agreed, nodding enthusiastically to him.
"First of all you have to remember to walk unnaturally slow. Always. Imagine that you have to move your feet, but that you should move as little as humanly possible – or not humanly, but you know what I mean." He smiled a little ironically.
"Pretend to be walking on the spot." her mother said, joining in, and Renesmee nodded again, eager to get through the list and to make sure she remembered absolutely everything.
"For you, blinking and breathing comes naturally, so don't worry about that." Bella said, and then she added playfully: "But be careful with the smiling, you don't want to blind all those guys, making them believe they have a chance!" She sent Edward a teasing look. "Your father never realized the effect he had on others."
"Ugh." Renesmee said, shaking her head as to erase the unpleasing pictures that had just appeared in her mind. "Back to the list please?"
"Right." Edward agreed, pretending to be strict as to avoid Bella's schooling. "As you haven't been close to other humans than those you share blood with – Charlie etc. – you need to be careful. Their smell probably won't affect you as much as it affects us, but to be safe, bring this with you." He tossed her a pink colored bottle, and Renesmee shot him a confused look.
"It's blood." Bella explained. "Animal blood."
Edward continued: "The basic rule for you in the beginning will be to keep a distance of at least two meters, whenever it is possible." Not that she would admit it, but this scared Renesmee more than anything else. Her father was right; she really did not know what effect human blood would have on her. She shredded, but tried to hide it from her parents. If they sensed her fear, they might postpone her whole attending-school-plan. And who knew how old she would look next year? She had no time to loose. Therefore, she tried to act casually, and nodded thus conformingly to her parents.
"All right. Got it. Walk slowly, blink, breath, keep distance." She smiled a weak smile. "No problem."
Before her parents – meaning Edward in particular – could sense her worry, she finished her glass of blood, and headed for the door, shouting something about saying goodbye to Alice, Carlisle, Emmett and the others. Before reaching the door, she heard them both shouting "good luck". She also thought she heard her mother telling her that she "looked amazing", but it was hard to tell; they always seemed to forget that her hearing was not as brilliant as theirs. Halfway up the little path to the Cullens' house, she could distinctly hear her father call after her: "And don't forget not to use your gift! No face-toughing and picture-showing!" She rolled her eyes in reply; yet again had he adjusted himself to whatever she was thinking – his voice was definitely louder this time. As she was about to enter the Cullens' front door, she came to think about the look Edward would send her when she rolled her eyes. 'You have gotten that from your mother' he would say, and they would both look at her with so much love that she would either feel blessed or sick – depending on her current mood. She smiled at the thought, and rolling her eyes yet again, she went to say bye to her second beloved family. Not too long after, she would sit in her new deep red Volvo, her school bag next to her, her foot on the gas, and her whole life ahead of her. That childish excited feeling would haunt her for years to come, each time bringing a huge grin to her face.
She seemed to arrive at school in no time – maybe her thoughts had been elsewhere, or perhaps she had inherited the Cullens' affection for speed, which, Renesmee guiltily admitted, was quite likely. With shaky hands and a heart beating even faster than usual, she looked around, studying the parking lot and its green surroundings. With relief, she came to realize that Forks high school felt right somehow. The trees framing the parking lot made her feel at home; it reminded her of the forest outside her house. She felt calmer at the thought, and decided to listen to the well-known sounds of birds, squirrels and trees bending in the wind. She lost track of how long she enjoyed the woodsy sounds, but at some point that morning, they drowned in the noise of rusty, old vehicles approaching. Renesmee realized the first day of school was about to begin, and she would have to step out of her very new, very expensive, very safe car.
With a deep breath, she opened the door and got out. Unfortunately, she was so tense and nervous that her father's demands slipped her memory. She did not act humanly in any matter; her movements were so graceful and controlled she looked like the world's most elegant ballerina – truth be told, she looked even better. Or at least, so would all those nervous teenager watching her swear. Renesmee did not even notice them, but already before exiting her car, a group of interested students had discretely gathered around her. The car alone had peaked their interest, but adding the most beautiful, elegant and mysterious girl they had ever seen on top, she easily became the center of everyone's attention. The word attention does not even cover the situations every single student at that parking lot – male of female – watched Renesmee emerge from her car in complete awe. Secretly –some not-so-secretly – they all wished to get close to her.
When Renesmee entered the school's gymnasium for the general introduction to Forks high school, she had started to realize the abnormal curiosity she seemed to awaken. She had also, however, noticed how easy it was for her to ignore the smell of human blood. Therefore, she could not help but smile ever so brilliantly, flashing her shiny white teeth, flapping her thick brown hair over her shoulder, and laugh a pleasant, feminine laugh. Her deep brown eyes were radiant and blended everyone that looked her way. The usual murmur amongst students stopped immediately, and everyone stared at her, wide-eyed and shocked. As she found her place in the back, trying and failing to hide away from the spotlight, a dark-blonde haired guy called out ever so loudly: "Dude, she is hot." Some girls at the front row laughed. His friend just shook his head, still somewhat perplexed. "No, she is beautiful." The utterly shocked, weak-sounding voice of his made his group of friends laugh, and suddenly the gossiping and talking continued around her continued. Renesmee, utterly embarrassed, but frightened more than anything, felt extremely relieved once her fellow classmates began talking once again. She had to blend in, she reminded herself angrily, and she was doing a poor job.
The principle started talking a few minutes later, and Renesmee quickly forgot about her self-directed anger. The excitement of being here – in the presence of real teenage human beings – made her so thrilled she had to concentrate very hard on remaining in her seat. Soon, but not soon enough after Renesmee's opinion, the principle stopped talking, and a teacher stepped forward. He looked like the stereotypical teacher one sees in movies: brown-haired with glasses too thick, wearing a shabby-looking tweed-jacked and carrying a dirty cup of coffee. He started calling out names – Sandra, Aguirre and Peter, Andrews – were the first one to join the class of 1A. Then joined Penelope, Belcher and Thomas, Benson, and soon, she – Renesmee, Cullen – was called out. Repeating 'slowly, slowly, slowly, slowly' to herself very strictly, she walked down the road between the lined up benches, trying her best to act clumsily, or at least humanly. After some time, twenty students or so had been called out to join the class of 1A, and soon they were on their way to their classroom. She smiled a little when they passed a door labeled the 'Biology Classroom', remembering the story of how her mother had met her father. Finally, the little group of 22 humans and one vampire-human-hybrid reached their assigned classroom. Renesmee carefully made sure to be seated in the back of the classroom, doing her best to avoid unnecessary attention. Unfortunately, it seemed like all the seats closest to her got picked first, and so instead she unwillingly achieved the opposite. With a sigh, she decided to overlook her admirers and keep her eyes on the teacher.
The teacher – called Mr. Brenner, Renesmee learned – would be their English teacher for the next three years. As herself, he seemed quite unsure of how to deal with the strange behavior of his students, as he only had one student paying any sort of attention to him: Renesmee. The 23 others were watching her, and however subtly they tried to act, it was quite obvious. She looked apologetically at the teacher with a shrug, and he looked somehow resolute. Perhaps he had decided then and there to redirect the attention in the room – at least Renesmee hoped so.
Her day pretty much continued in the same matter; people seemed to watch her constantly, eyeing her every gracious move, and Renesmee tried to avoid their stare. She refused to let it discourage her intense desire to fit in, to feel at home somewhere, to feel accepted, but as the day slowly came to an end, she felt her previous excitement and hope fade. When the day was over, and she was back safely in her car, she let the first pair of tears escape her eyes. The lonely feeling she had desperately tried to push away all her life washed over her with overwhelming force, and she wanted to give up on everything then and there. She did not understand her existence. She did not know who she was, or who she was supposed to be. She could not, and would not ever, find her equal. Humans thought she was strange – different – and so did vampires. She sobbed and sobbed, and could not find any consolation in anything. She would be alone forever – and for an immortal creature, forever is a very long time. Tears were still streaming down her face when she started the engine and backed out of Fork high school's parking lot, but then, suddenly her heart became a little lighter.
Her phone was laying on top of her bag next to her, in the front seat, and right now the word 'Jacob' filled almost every inch of the screen. He had sent her a message. She smiled; it was almost as if he sensed her sadness. While driving further away from the day's letdown, she opened his text and read: Hey. The beach, you know where, at 4?Jake. Those simple words were so, well, simple, but still they were warmer and more comforting than anything else she could ever imagine. The emptiness, the confusion, the loneliness and the sense of being lost in the world seemed ridiculous to her now. Why did she let it get to her? She shook her at her own stupidity, as she realized she had made a habit of doing. It would be nice to meet Jake, she though – nice to be herself, to not 'act human' all the time. It was harder than anyone she had given her family credit for.
Still, even though she was certainly happy about seeing Jake, she was also a little… worried, if that was the right word to use. To be honest, Renesmee did not really know which words to use when describing her relationship to Jake. It was incredibly confusing to her. Therefore, she made a mental list, trying to make sense of it in her head, listing all simple facts she understood about their connection. First of all, she thought, Jake was a friend of her mother – a good friend. Her father never seemed to like him much, but yet he accepted him in a way Rosalie accepted her mother. That told her his father was not ecstatic about Jake, but he was accepted like a family member. Second of all, Jake was her friend. He had always been there for her; he had been playing with her when she was little, read to her when she got older, hunted with her when she got thirsty. He had been there like a knight in shining armor – like no other family member had. But, she thought, and listed this as number three, he was a lot older than her. He was approximately as old as her parents. She cringed at the thought; she did not like it, for some weird reason.
All of these points indicated that Jake was like her uncle, but, Renesmee thought dissatisfied, it did not say anything about her feelings for Jake. For her, he was like an uncle, like a brother and like a friend. She just did not know which one he was, and that was confusing to her. Moreover, she was bothered because he obviously meant so much more to her than she did to him. Jake had his pack, his friends, his family and would probably get any girl he wanted. Renesmee had no one except her family; she would never get any real friends, any friends that understood her like Jake's pack understood him, because there would never be another of her kind. She was alone, and she always would be. She would never find her equal – a mate – because she was too fragile, and smelled too much of blood to ever be able to be intimate, or even remotely close to a vampire. Even though she blushed at the thought, she knew it was true. The same was true for humans; they were too fragile for her, and smelled too much of blood. Besides, she would never purposely endanger a human by revealing her true self – the Volturies still gave her nightmares. Provoking them even the slightest would be their death. She could never bear costing her family that much. So, she had to be alone – or, she corrected herself, she had Jake. For that, she should be thankful. And she was, indeed, but she felt silly in his company… Like he spent time with her out of pity, or duty, because he knew that she needed him. It saddened her, and hurt beyond measure, that she knew so very well that he did not need her. Still, she would rather be hurt in his company, feeling like an idiot, than be without him. That thought mortified her; she blushed furiously and felt stupider than she had ever done during her six years on this earth.
When she got home again, after quite a terrible day, she was happy her father could read her mind – probably for the first and last time ever. He knew what had happened, and he knew she would prefer some space. It was wonderful to just walk straight inside, grab some bottles of animal blood, and then be able lock herself inside her room and stay there, undisturbed, no questions asked. She sent her father a mental thank you, and threw herself onto her bed, feeling terribly sorry for herself. She could hear her father explaining the situation first to her mother, and then to Alice, Rosalie, Carlisle, Esme, Jaspar and Emmett, as each and every one of them seemingly wanted to check up on her. It really warmed her heart – it truly proved that they cared for her, as all of them probably heard what Edward said first to Bella, and then to everyone else. Still, they made the trip down to the stone cottage just for her. This made her a little happier – or at least a little less sad – and she felt less alone than she had all day.
As she felt a little better, she thought that she could spend some time getting ready for her plans with Jake. It was only three o'clock – since it was the first day of school, it had been a short one – and she had plenty of time. Not that she needed to look particularly good for him, that was a ludicrous thought, it was just Jake after all. He whom had changed her diapers; he whom had cleaned her baby clothes for vomit. This made her feel uneasy, he could feel herself blushing – another thing she had inherited from her mother. Why this made her feel ashamed, she could not tell, just as she could not tell why she wanted to look her best for this meeting. Unless… No, she tossed the idea aside before it had even appeared in her mind. Maybe she just wanted to show him that she had the upper hand – that she was good-looking, independent and strong, and that she was not clingy and in desperate need of him. Yes, the idea appealed to her. Perhaps she could use the day's events to her favor, to show Jake how many people wanted to be close to her. They had after all seemed to like her… Maybe if she told Jake all this, she would seem less needy… and he would be with her due to his own desire, and not because he felt some sort of duty to do so, because he was friends with her mother. She cried out angrily, kicked off her shoes in a forceful manner, and decided to look her absolute best. And for that, she needed Alice.
At first, Alice had seemed a little surprised at her request. Normally, Renesmee would prefer to handle clothing and makeup herself, but of course she had jumped at the opportunity of dressing up her niece. She was Alice after all! The thought had made Renesmee smile. She was incredibly found of her aunt – and closer to her than any other of her Cullen relatives – and she told her things she would feel uncomfortable shearing with anyone else. Sometimes, if Alice found it appropriate, she would share her visions with Renesmee, and Renesmee would be completely taken with her new-found knowledge.
"So…" Alice said, once Renesmee had asked her for some clothing tips. "You want my help? That does not happen very often!" She playfully pointed out, but she made sure to add "But I'm glad you did!" so that Renesmee would not feel too bad. "What's the special occasion?" Renesmee cursed under her breath, as she had hoped this question never would be asked. "Errrm…" she asked bewildered, trying hard to find a good explanation herself. She gave up and reached for her aunt's chin, as she had done so many times before she had learned to speak. She showed her images of Jake's life – colorful pictures of him, his friends, his pack, his family, his equals – and then she showed her pictures of Jake taking care of her when she was little. Finally, she showed herself, rosy-cheeked and brown-eyed in the middle of a room filled with vampires – red eyed and pale skinned, and she also showed her aunt how much she stood out at school, their whispers, their stares. "I hate that I am dependent of Jake, while he just hangs with me as a favor to my mom." She finished, once the pictures had stopped coming. "I guess I just want to seem independent, strong somehow…" She trailed off, hoping she had not revealed too much of her feelings for Jake. Without knowing why, there was some part of it that felt… forbidden.
For a moment, Alice looked at her unfathomable. She investigated her niece for seconds, and then she looked conflicted, as if wondering how much she should tell her. She ended up sighing, smiling a little, and shaking her head in a way that told Renesmee she was acting silly. It made her blush. "He does not do it as a favor to your mom." Alice looked away, as if seeing something far away – and for all Renesmee knew, maybe she did, too. She could not make sense of what Alice had told her, but she trusted her aunt, and her words had given her a sense of hope. It was a fleeing sort of hope, but it was still there. Maybe their positions were more equally based than she had dared hope for… It was clear to both of them that the conversation was over; none of them were keen on saying anything more about the topic, so they were soon picking out shoes and jewelry.
The result was magnificent, Renesmee thought happily to herself. She was wearing tight black jeans and a navy blue top that showed just enough of her curves, and her black boots and bag matched discreetly. Nothing looked too planed or too dressed-up; it was perfect. Around her neck she had a silver locked with two chains on: A heart with a picture of her mother and father, given to her by Bella, alongside with a wolf-chain that Jake had given to her – quite similar to the one her mother had on her bracelet. That exact comparison made her feel a little weird, but she quickly brushed it off, too happy with Alice's work to be too bothered. After a hug, a "good luck", and a "thanks", Renesmee was soon back in her car – this time heading for the beach and her awaiting prince in shining armor.
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