A/N: Finally, Edward and Bella make their appearance! Don't worry, their late entrance is in no way indicative of their later involvment in the plot. They feature heavily in the next chapters...
Sorry about the wait... I had exams and crap... But hooray! I'm done with high school! College, here I come! Any other USFers out there?
Disclaimer: I only own Bea, Adam, and the plot. I am satisfied :-D
Happenings
It felt appropriate to be in the upright fetal position as I argued ineffectively with Edward. I pulled my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them, resting my head on top. I sighed dejectedly. Edward took a hand off the steering wheel and rested it on the back of my neck, but I shrugged him off, too frustrated to be calmed by his affection.
"I could still ask Carlisle to do it," I reminded him.
"Bella," Edward sighed, "I'm not being unreasonable, and neither is Renee. Or Charlie, for that matter."
"I absolutely do not have any issue with my mother right now. I'm all for putting that off." Edward sighed sadly, but I ignored him and continued. "But even if we do wait to get married, that's no reason to put off changing me."
"Yes, it most certainly is," Edward growled, his hands clenched tightly on the steering wheel.
This whole situation was out of hand. One week ago, we'd thought that we'd just tell Charlie and Mom that we were getting married and they might be upset at first, but they'd get over it, and at the end of the summer I'd be wedded, bedded, and immortal.
Charlie's reaction was just as I'd predicted it, though he had insisted that we tell Renee in person. Mom had been happy to have us, so we flew out to Florida the next day and told her that night. To say that she completely flipped out would be a ridiculous understatement.
Edward had spent the night locked in the guest room, with Phil standing guard outside with an honest-to-God shotgun. Not that it would have been very effective.
My evening was spent in Renee's room, screaming and crying at each other at the top of our lungs. It wasn't typical of us to fight so aggressively, but we were hellcats that night. Renee screamed at me how disappointed she was in me, how she'd thought I'd make better decisions than her. She told me how stupid it was of me, how I'd be throwing my life away, how she'd hoped I would never be that girl…
I spent the time yelling back at her, miserable in so many ways. It was a good thing that we were shrieking at each other, because it made her too upset to notice how bad my lies were. And I lied a lot that night. The worst part wasn't the lying, though, or the screaming, or that my fiancé (eek) was being held hostage by a minor league baseball player with a firearm. It was that I agreed with most of what Renee was saying. But it didn't matter. I needed to be with Edward, for eternity, and if this was the only way…
Eventually we'd come to a compromise at around three in the morning… I would wait to marry Edward. Not long, only until spring, instead of the five years Renee had originally wanted. But I would take the year off school, so I wouldn't have to move away from Forks just to come back before the second semester ended.
I'd thought that this was perfect. I could put off the impending wedding a while, much to my relief, and I could still become a vampire before my birthday. I wouldn't get any older than Edward, and I wouldn't have to take the risk of going to college. He had said the deal was off, after all…
However, more complications arose when I called Charlie with the news. He'd appreciated the fact that we'd decided to wait (he hadn't been happy about our timeframe, either, but I think he was too pleased that we weren't running off to mention it), but he was furious that I was putting off school, no matter my reasons… I didn't want to run up Renee's long distance bill, so Charlie and I had cut our conversation short. I wasn't looking forward to continuing it.
Edward, of course, had been thrilled with both plans. He said he didn't mind putting off the wedding even longer if it meant I could get in some schooling.
That had confused me at first. He knew better than anyone how absolutely impossible it'd be for me to go to college… until I realized that he fully intended to stick to our original sequence of events. Marriage, then immortality, not the other way around, like I'd thought…
Now he and I were barely speaking, Charlie was waiting for me at home, furious, and Renee was mad at me, too, mainly because she thought I was mad at her, which I wasn't, but I couldn't tell her that…
I wondered it fate was trying to take a roundabout way of killing me, by getting me to do it myself.
I was about to point out the fact that surely one of us would combust with sexual tension before Christmas if we waited too long, but if I was a vampire before Christmas, there'd be no need to put it off when Edward's phone rang.
He had it out of his pocket and up to his ear before I could even recognize the latest indie rock discovery that he'd set as his ringtone.
"What is it, Carlisle? I'm not in much of a mood… No, Florida did not go well, at all… I'll explain more later, we're nearly home… about twenty minutes, why?" Carlisle said something too quickly for my ears to pick up, and suddenly Edward was gunning the gas even faster, racing past 120… 130 mph… "Why?" He demanded, fury making his voice animalistic, predatory. I involuntarily pressed myself against the door of the Volvo, fear and panic clenching my stomach. "We'll be in the garage in ten minutes." Edward snapped his phone shut and trained his eyes on the road, his mouth a hard line.
"Wha- What's going on?" I stuttered, my voice cracking. I'd never seen Edward so openly incensed. Usually he attempted to save me from at least part of his anger… Horrific possibilities presented themselves in my mind, each picture more worrying than the last… Someone discovering the Cullens… Jasper slipping up, breaking the treaty and now they'd have to move away… the werewolves declaring war… Oh, God, what if something happened to Charlie… I'd been so angry when I'd spoken to him last…
Edward glanced at me. "Carlisle's called a family meeting," he said simply.
Family meeting. Not Charlie, then. I felt relief relax my shoulders for only a moment before the other options returned to me.
"Why?" I demanded quietly, determined to quell my rising feelings of hysteria.
"Someone's been sent to live with us. I don't know much else."
I paused, confused. That was far from what I'd expected. Not frightening at all. Why was Edward so aggravated? Unless there was something he wasn't telling me.
"Someone's… been sent," I repeated, and suddenly the repercussions hit me like we'd run into a tree. I couldn't breathe.
"Yes," Edward hesitated, deliberating. "From the Volturi."
The Volturi. The terror from our last meetings still hadn't faded… why was one here? I could only think of two reasons: to change me… or to kill me.
"Oh, God," I tried to cry out like an expletive, but instead it came out all croaky and barely audible, symptoms of my horror.
And I'd thought my day couldn't get any worse.
Famous last words.
