Chapter 4: Not Quite So Happy Yet

That night, Jake drove me to the school so I could pick up my car and drive home. When I got out of my car in my driveway, I opened the door, expecting what I had coming to me.

"Young lady!" a soft voice said, "where have you been all night?"

"Why are you in my house giving me this lecture instead of my parents?" I asked Alice.

"Your parents are on a date," she said, "and they asked me to take care of you. I mean, I know you were supposed to be out late because you were going to that party, but not this late! It's midnight! Where were you?"

"I went to Jake's," I said casually hanging my coat up.

"Why didn't you stay at the party and let Johnny drive you home?"

"I wasn't having fun," I said, "and plus I kind of knocked this guy unconscious, no biggy."

"Nessie!" Alice said, "What did you do?"

"Well I ran into the room trying to get away from Johnny who was drunker than hell-…"

"What does that even mean…" she started.

"And there was this other drunk who tried to kiss me so I kind of pushed him away but I forgot my strength and yeah…"

"Ness! I thought we'd agree we would be careful!"

"Come on Alice," I said, "I thought you were the one who's always careless and fun."

"I'm fun!" Alice protested, "but I have to be responsible sometimes," she said with a wink.

"Anyways," I continued, "I ran out and I thought I was going home but I ended up going to Jake's.

"He was there?" she asked.

"Yes," I said looking down uncomfortably.

"Ness," she said, "what happened?"

I hesitated for a while. "Billy died."

"Oh my god," she said staring blankly. "How come I didn't see that?"

"Because his son is a werewolf," I said.

"Oh dear," she says, "Bella will be heart broken." Alice went over to the fridge and got out a bag of red liquid, and put in a cup with a straw.

"Alice," I said following her into the kitchen, "are you drinking blood out of a cup?"

"Yeah!" she said, "Bella did it when she was pregnant with you."

"Wasn't she human when she was pregnant with me?" I asked.

"Yep!" she said.

"Gross," I commented.

"Not gross," she said back, "you were the one craving it, and you were half vampire."

"But anyways," she said, "what happened after that?"

"I found him in his room," I said, "and he was crying."

"Jacob Black?" she asked, "crying? But that kid's hard as a rock!"

"So I thought," I said. "I sat with him and comforted him."

"That's it?" she asked expecting more.

"Well…" I said.

"Well what?" she asked. I remained silent. "Well what? Ness!" She started slapping me on the arm. "Well what Ness? Well what?"

"We kissed!" I said getting all excited. Alice dropped her cup on the ground and it spilled.

"Oh!" she exclaimed. She quickly cleaned the mess up and threw the cup away. "Oh my god Ness! I don't even know what to say! What about your boyfriend."

"Eh, I'll break up with him," I said, "he hasn't even been acting like himself! He told me he wasn't into all the popularity and stupid cheerleaders and football guys, and here he is getting drunk at the party that he just had to have me go to and wear his jersey! Like what does that even prove? That I'm his? Well excuse me but I don't like to be claimed. I'm not an item."

"Easy there girl," Alice said, "Did you kiss him out of anger?"

"No!" I protested. "I, I don't know why. I just, had this weird feeling I've never had before."

"It's called a crush babe," Alice said.

"No," I said, "I've had crushes before, but not like this. It was just a sudden feeling."

Alice had a look on her face as if she had just realized something. "Oh," was all she said. "Oh. Okay."

With that Alice just, left. What the hell Alice? You leave? I thought she'd be excited about this! Weird. I had a long day, so I headed upstairs and got ready for bed. But I only slept for four hours and a half. I was awaken by the sounds of voices downstairs. Ah. Another family meeting. I carefully snuck my way down the hallway, and stayed above the three large steps that led downstairs. I hid by the corner of the wall and listened in.

"They kissed Bella!" Alice said. "Kissed!"

"Alice it was going to happen sometime."

"I don't know if I really approve of th-…" Dad started.

"Shush," my mother said placing her finger on his lips.

"I just don't get it!" Alice said.

"She didn't really like the other dude," Mom said.

The other dude? Are you serious? You really don't know his name by now?

"She just thought she liked him," Mom said.

"But I don't understand!" Alice said, "why can't I see this! It's annoying!"

"Oh stop being so stupid," I heard Rose's voice appear out of no where.

"Alice we knew this would happen," Mom said.

"I don't know," Alice said, "I'm happy for her! I am! It just feels weird that out of no where it just suddenly, happened!"

"That's what the whole thing is," Rose said. "And I can smell you Nessie." Shit.

I was about to run back to my room when Dad said, "Nessie, come down." I did as he said, walking down with a look of embarrassment on my face.

"Why are you guys talking about me?" I asked noticing that Jasper is here too, along side Alice. Carlisle and Esme were here too, but Emmett was far out of sight.

"Well we were having a meeting about your growth for real this time," Alice said proving that they were lying to me the last time they told me that. "But we started talking about you and Jacob."

"You mean the mutt," Rose corrected her.

"Don't call him that!" I fought. I suddenly became embarrassed and looked down at the ground as the room got quiet. "I'm going back to bed," I whispered.

"Renesmee," Carlisle called. I turned around and looked at him. "We need to talk to you about your growth.

"Mhmm?" I asked. "As you may have noticed your growth has made a very impressive change."

"Yes," I said, "I've gotten taller and I'm sleeping less."

"And you've been growing to look more mature," my mother said.

"Well you're physically sixteen," Esmee said. "But you're really thirteen."

"Yes," Carlisle said. "You're maturity is actually of your physical age, which I'm surprised for."

"Maybe she's just a very mature thirteen year old," Alice said trying to cheer me up.

"Anyways," Carlisle said, "in a few months you'll be physically eighteen."

"Then I still have five years to catch up," I said sadly.

"Yes," Esme said, "but we can't even really tell the difference most of the time."

"The point is," Carlisle said, "You are going to look eighteen, so you are going to have to transfer schools again. I knew this was coming. This must've been what my parents wanted to tell me.

"No!" I said. "No, no no!"

"I'm sorry honey but it's the only way-…" my mom began.

"No!" I repeated again. "I'm tired of switching schools! Alice you said I should have a proper social life but this isn't proper nor normal! It makes me frustrated, and it's making me go insane! I keep making all these friends and then I have to give them up!"

"Carlisle?" Mom asked looking to him.

"Well I suppose we could go back to home schooling her…"

"But what about friends?" Alice asked.

"Alice," Dad said, "she will never keep friends. You're basically torturing her by doing this." Alice let out a sigh.

"We'll talk about it later," Carlisle said, "but, tomorrow is your last day of school."

"What?" I asked.

"We just can't risk it."

"But Carlisle!"

"No buts," he said. "It's too dangerous."

"Why couldn't you give me warning so I could tell my friends instead of just showing up and saying, 'oh hey y'all, yeah, we're just randomly moving so today's my last day. Bye. Oh I can't stay in contact with you either because I'm a vampire. Bye forever.'"

"I'm sorry," Rose said as she came and put her arm around me.

"You couldn't give us warning that you were going to grow this fast," Jasper spoke for the first time. I sighed and took Rosalie's arm off of me.

"Goodnight," I said as I ran back upstairs. I climbed in bed, but I couldn't fall asleep that night.

I got ready for school, and tried to put on a sad face. Mom and Dad let me drive to school today, probably because they felt bad for me. Of course when I parked at the school Johnny was waiting for me.

"Ness!" he called me over. I just kept walking past him.

"Ness!" I kept going. I got to my locker, and he followed me there.

"Ness what's wrong?" he asked. I didn't answer. "Look, I'm sorry about last night, I forgot to take you home, I just, don't remember what happened…"

"You think that's what I'm mad about?" I asked slamming my locker.

Oh yeah. He had it coming to him. After all, it was my last day. Maybe I could have some serious fun… "You didn't forget to bring me home Johnny," I said, "I left early because you were all so drunk."

"Drunk?" he asked. "No, I don't get drunk, but I do have a headache today…"

"Oh give it up!" I exclaimed, "You aren't anything who you said you are!"

"What are you talking about…" "You told me you hated that whole crowd! But last night you completely acted like a different person!"

"Ness…" he began.

"No," I said, "I'm over it. Besides, I'm moving tomorrow."

"You're what?" he asked in shock. "Ness if this is just a way to get me away from you…"

"No it's not!" I yelled, "I'm moving! Surprise!"

"What," he said with a tone of sadness in his voice. He moved in closer to kiss me, and I harshly pushed him away.

"Were over."

"What?" he asked again. "No, Ness, look I'm-…"

"Just forget it,," I said walking away.

"Your diary," he said.

"What?" I asked turning back around.

"I read your diary. That's how I told you all those things on our first date."

"You did what?" I asked getting angry.

"You left it over at Megan's house, and I went over to hang out with her brother, and it was in the bathroom, and I really wanted you to like me and-…"

"You're sick," I said. "I never even liked you anyways. Bye."

Okay, maybe that was a tiny bit harsh. Okay, a lot a bit harsh, but he had it coming. Next I went to see Megan.

"Hey Ness!" she said. "Isn't today so pretty outside! Well not really because it's raining, like every day, but it just, I don't know has a different feel to it-…"

"I'm moving," I cut her off.

"You know how the clouds cover the sun, wait, you're what?"

"I believe she said she was moving," Tasha said.

"Ness, are you serious?" Megan asked.

"Yeah," I said sadly.

"Where to?" Megan asked. Oh shit. Umm….

"Britain," I said randomly.

"Britain?" she asked. "Why?"

"My grandma…is from Britain and we wanted to….go back?" I made up.

"Oh," she said.

"Ness, I'm going to miss you!" She grabbed me and squeezed me as hard as she could, though it had no effect on me. Out of all my friends, I think I would actually miss Megan. "We have to stay in touch, okay Ness?"

"Okay," I said even though I knew we wouldn't.

"When are you moving?" she asked.

"Today's my last day," I told her.

"Oh my god," she said. "Bye Ness!" She squeezed me one more time, then the bell rang and we got to class. I decided to act out in all my classes. Who cares? I'm never seeing them again. In math, I re-arranged the screws on my teacher's chair so when he sat down he fell to the ground. In biology, I switched the tubes that the teacher used, so the one he poured exploded.

In History, I drew on the world map: MR. FAY SUCKS. It was hilarious when he pulled it down! And then in language arts, I completely trashed the room. Oh good times, good times.

It finally came to the end of the day, and there was only one person left who I had to say goodbye too. Maggie. "Hey Ness," she said as she walked over to me. "So yesterday, Bryan, you know, my new boyfriend…"

Maggie went on about some story about Bryan and then I said, "I'm moving." I expected her to keep going, but for the first time, she actually stopped.

"Wait, what?"

"I'm moving," I repeated.

"Really?" Maggie asked.

"Yeah, really," I said, "today's my last day."

"Oh," she said, "I'm sorry. I'm actually going to miss you. I mean, you were the only one who listened to my stories." That was a false statement, but hey, if that's what she wanted to believe, who was I to stop her?

"Where are you moving to?" I forgot where I had told Megan. Ummm,

"Virgina," I said.

"Oh," she said, "ew. I don't like that state."

"Cool," was all I could say. Come to think of it, I told everyone that I was moving to a different place. Why couldn't I remember?

"You know Maggs," I said, "I think I'm going to miss you most of all." I didn't know why, but it was true. Maybe because I didn't have to participate in conversations with her.

"Oh," she said, "that's really nice. I'll miss you too. Bye Ness." We hugged, and then went our separate ways. Wow, that must've been mentally and emotionally exhausting for her! I mean, she actually had to have a conversation where someone else talked. I went out to my car, and said goodbye to this school for the last time.

I started driving, but I wasn't driving home. I was driving to Jake's. I parked my car a while away from the beach, and threw my shoes in the car. "How glad I am to be done with school," I muttered under my breath. As I got closer to the house, I saw Jake walking out. My heart started racing, and I felt that same feeling that I felt when we kissed last night. He looked up and saw me walking, and stepped down his porch steps and started running towards me.

"Don't hit a tree this time!" he shouted.

"Don't worry," I yelled back, "I'm not the one running!" We caught up to each other in the middle, and he immediately embraced me in his arms and kissed me. He picked me up, and I wrapped my legs around him and held his neck in my arms. He pressed his lips against mine, and the kiss was so soft. He's normally so tough, so his kiss surprised me both times. I pressed my lips against his, and curled my fingers in his short hair.

He let me down, grabbed my hand, and started walking with me to his house. Man, it felt good to do that. It just made me feel relief, like I've been waiting so long to get that off my shoulders.

"You don't know how long I've been waiting to do that," he said basically reading my mind. It felt good to know that the guy I liked, liked me back. No, that wasn't the word. I loved this guy. And he loved me back. But how could I love him? I'm only sixteen. Well, kind of.

After a while, Jake got kind of quiet. "Are you okay?" I asked. Then I remembered Billy. I had completely forgotten about him. Jake just seemed so, normal, and happy. "I'm sorry," I whispered again. We got to the house, and he opened the door for me. When we went inside, he handed me something. "What's this?" I asked opening up the envelope.

"An invitation to the funeral," he said. "It's for your whole family," he added. I opened up the letter and read it.

To The Cullens,

You are formally invited to help honor and mourn our beloved

Billy Black

At this sad occasion in his passing on Sunday, November 18th, 2012 at:

La Push Celestial Church from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm

(Google Map instructions attached)

We hope you can join us.

After reading the invite, I hugged Jake once more. I couldn't possibly imagine what this was like for him, losing a dad. Jake never had to die, he could form to the age of his choosing. I wouldn't ever die naturally without a choice, nor would my family, so I would never have to experience that. "We'll be coming," I said. I looked at my watch. "I better get home," I said, "or my parents will have another freak out."

"Okay," he said, "bye."

"Bye," I said back. We hugged each other, and then I walked back out to my car.

I drove home, wondering how Mom would respond to the invite. I got home in time, and noticed that Alice's car was parked in the driveway, all clean and shiny, just like new. Typical. "Hey I'm home," I said as I opened the door.

"Hey," Alice, and my parents all said at the same time.

"How'd you get your car back?" I asked Alice.

"I just ran over and got it," she said.

"Oh, mom," I said remembering the invitation. "I have something for you."

Bella's P.O.V.

Renesmee handed me a folded, white, small piece of paper. On the front there were black swirls, all surrounding three words.

To The Cullens,

I wondered what it could've been. What could we possibly be invited to? We don't have any friends who would be getting married. I opened up the invitation, only to see a page of a thousand words. But only three words stuck out to me.

Funeral

Billy Black