Disclaimer: These characters belong to Stephanie Meyer, not me!

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Each Journey Begins With One Step

Chapter 2: …Another door opens

I awoke in the morning, still in my clothes from the previous night, but tucked under my quilt and oriented properly on the bed. I wasn't sure if it was Jacob or Charlie who put me here.

Regardless, I had had a restful and dreamless sleep. I got my bath stuff together and headed for the shower. The warm water woke me up, and I hummed one of the songs I had heard on the radio in Jake's car yesterday. After fifteen minutes I turned the water off and toweled dried my hair. Once inside my room I actually picked out an outfit that was hanging up in my closet. I made my way downstairs into the kitchen and saw that Charlie was there. It must be earlier than I realized.

"Morning Bells."

"Morning Dad."

The silence was comfortable as I poured myself cereal and sat down to eat it. The only sounds that interrupted the silence besides my chewing were Charlie rustling the paper now and then.

"Rrrhmmhum." Charlie cleared his throat.

Not even a minute went by and he cleared his throat again.

"Rrrhmmhum."

I quickly looked up. "Sorry Dad." I hadn't realized that he had been trying to get my attention.

"Bells…" his eyebrows scrunched together like he was trying to pick his words carefully. "Now that you've graduated… have you given any thought about college? Your future?"

"Um…" I hesitated. You have no idea.

He took my lack of answer as a no. "Well, I think you should look into going to college this fall."

"Dad—"

He interrupted me before I could protest. "Now Bells, consider it. You've always been great at school; I mean you've just graduated salutatorian of your class."

I blushed and looked back down at the table.

"If it's the money you're worried about…" he began.

"No no no!" I said quickly. "That's not it! I mean, well… no that's not my reason. I guess I just haven't pictured myself in college…" No need to tell him where I did picture myself.

His chair scraped on the linoleum as he started to get up. "Well I'll let you have a few more days to think about it."

"Wait!" Panic began to swell in me. I needed this to be resolved; I don't think I could handle a reoccurrence of this awkward conversation with Charlie. I thrashed around in my brain for some kind of idea, or reference even that I'd heard my cafeteria friends mention about college. Then it came to me.

"What about… community college?"

He sat back down, listening.

"I mean, I could still live here, but I could go to school two or three days a week, and Mrs. Newton offered me a full time position at the store. Plus, it's less expensive than a four-year place. I'm sure I could get a scholarship of some kind."

I didn't need so many reasons to try to convince him. By the time I said "school" he was already nodding in agreement. I was pretty impressed with this plan that I had made up on the fly.

"That could work," was all he eventually said. "Well," getting up again, "I should head down to the station now. Bye Bells."

"Bye Dad."

And with that, the next section of my life was decided.

After I cleaned my dishes I headed upstairs and turned on my ancient computer. I hung up some clean clothes in the closet while it warmed up, and then spent a good portion of the morning registering online for Peninsula College, West End/Forks Extension. I even found some merit scholarships to apply for.

I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning the house top to bottom, stopping once to make myself lunch. After the whole house was sparkling clean, I wasn't sure what to do next, cause I didn't have any homework to do anymore. Unless I signed up for summer school…

Nope. I checked online but summer registration had ended about a month ago. I sighed in frustration, and shut down the computer. I sat staring out the window, idly fingering the cross around my neck. It was so light I wasn't even aware of it against my skin until I had unconsciously started playing with it. I must have even showered with it. Strange how it easily became part of my life, just like how the guy who gave it to me did. I smiled. I remembered how easily Edward became part of my life too. Well, how easily he became my life. I stopped smiling. The hole threatened to make its existence known.

So I got up and went downstairs to call Mrs. Newton about starting my full time job tomorrow. The only thing left to do today was to distract myself some more until I had to make dinner for Charlie. With that in mind, I got in my truck, engine roaring to life, and headed down the highway to La Push.