All goes to Ms. Meyer and Disney.
This is the last chapter. The sequel should be up tomorrow, maybe even today.
At three o'clock, the halls of Forks High were empty. Quiet filled the school. There was a sense of anticipation-
-and then the bell rang!
Doors burst open and students rushed into the halls. The school was buzzing with excitement!
In the gym, the stands were full of spectators, cheering and clapping. The school band was playing, the cheerleaders were dancing up a storm, banners were waving in the air…. It was time to decide who were the champions, once and for all!
In the locker room, Edward sat alone on a bench. The rest of the team had run onto the court. He could hear the crowd being whipped into a frenzy. All those hours of practice, all those drills, all that training…it all came down to this night.
His dad came into the room. "How're you feeling?"
"Nervous." Edward had to be honest.
"Me, too." His dad smiled. "Wish I could suit up and play alongside you."
Edward grinned slightly. "Hey, you had your turn."
His father looked at him seriously. "Do you know what I want from you today?"
Edward nodded. His dad didn't have to tell him. "A championship."
His dad looked Edward straight in the eyes. "That'll happen or it won't," he said gently. "What I want is for you to have fun. I know about all the pressure, and probably too much of it came from me. All I really want is to watch my son having the time of his life, playing the game we both love. Give me that, and I'll sleep with a smile tonight, no matter how the score comes out."
Edward looked at his father. A strange feeling of relief spread through him. "Thanks, coa-" He corrected himself. "-Dad."
His father smiled at him and walked away.
Blackboards had been set up on each side of the choir room – the first round of the Scholastic Decathlon was about to begin. The walls were lined with tables where contestants could conduct experiments. A few dozen chairs had been set out for judges and spectators. As the clock ticked down, each team gathered for a final briefing.
In the theater, Nessie played random tunes on the piano as a few spectators wandered into the large auditorium. Barrett and Rosalie did bizarre actor-prep exercises backstage: opening their mouths wide, uttering weird vocalizations, and falling back into each other's arms to demonstrate their absolute trust in each other.
In the choir room, the decathlon teams, all wearing lab coats, faced off for the opening bell.
Bella stood at the blackboard, poised to begin. The moderator signaled "go," and she and the star of the competing team began scribbling formulas as fast as they could.
In the theater, Ms. Barfield was making yet another speech. "Casting the leads of a show is both a challenge and a responsibility, a joy and a burden," she said. "I commend you, and all young artists who hold out for the moon, the sun, and the stars-"
The five kids sitting in the auditorium just stared at her. They didn't have a clue about what she meant. Ms. Barfield sighed, and tried to end on a grand note. "So…shall we soar together?" She checked her clipboard, just for form's sake, and called out, "Barrett and Rosalie?"
The brother-and-sister team made a grand entrance as their recorded music started. From the very first note, it was clear that this was a two-person musical, with light cues and choreography and moves that would put most Broadway dancers to shame.
As they started singing the chorus, Rosalie and Barrett moved into all-out choreography, with kicks, spins, turns, and leaps.
Meanwhile, in the gym, the two teams who would be battling for the championship finally faced each other in center court. This was it – all the training, all the practice drills, all the pep talks led up to this…very…moment….
The ref threw the ball for the opening tip-off, and the game began. From the very first seconds, the crowd was going crazy.
Even in the choir room, the Scholastic Decathlon team could hear the crowd noise. Everyone except Bella, that is. She was standing at the board, totally focused on what she had to do. As the timer ticked down, she and her opponent wrote formulas as quickly as possible.
Just one last number and she finished seconds ahead of her opponent and slammed the timer button, stopping the clock.
The moderator quickly checked her answer, then nodded. Points to the Spartan Scholastic team! As everyone cheered Bella, whose face was flushed with victory, Alice peeked at the clock. It was 3:35 P.M.
She quickly moved over to her laptop and punched in a code, murmuring to herself, "All right, Spartans, time for an orderly exit from the gym…."
Immediately, the words "message transmitted" appeared on the screen. In the gym's utility room, a small wireless router had been patched into the electronic grid. Within seconds, the router started blinking…the mission had begun.
Suddenly, the electronic scoreboard blinked and random numbers began appearing where the score had been. The message board began flashing. The gym lights pulsed on and off.
The players stopped in midgame, baffled as to what was going on.
Principal Green didn't know what was happening either, but he did know school policy. He quickly took the mike and said, "Well, we seem to have a little electronic gremlin here. I'm sure we'll figure this out. In the meantime, per safety regulations, we all need to make an orderly exit from the gym-"
As the gym slowly emptied, Jasper grinned a private grin. Phase one of the mission had been executed!
Back in the choir room, Alice quickly hit another key on her laptop. A beaker of blue liquid was sitting on a nearby hot plate, waiting for the experiment section of the competition. Alice's click turned on the hot plate, which heated the liquid, which began to gurgle, which created pressure that popped off the top of the beaker, which released an awesomely bad smell in the room.
Alice smiled in quiet satisfaction as she saw the first moderator, then the spectators, begin to react to the smell. Within seconds, everyone had rushed out of the room. Alice nodded. Phase two had just been completed.
In the theater, Rosalie and Barrett were blissfully unaware of the other dramas that were taking place in the school. They ended their song with just as much energy as when they had started. They knew that had done phenomenally well, and they took extravagant bows.
"Do you see why we love the theater, people?" Ms. Barfield said, almost overcome with pride and joy in her star pupils. "Well done."
She made a quick check of her list and then asked, in an offhand voice, "Edward Masen and Isabella Swan?" She looked around. "Edward…Isabella?"
But there was no sign of them.
Nessie looked around nervously. "They'll be here!"
Ms. Barfield shook her head with little regret. "The theater, as I have often pointed out, waits for no one. I'm sorry."
Nessie gave one more despairing glance at the door, but there was still no sign of her friends. She sank back onto the piano bench, crushed.
"Okay, we're done here," Ms. Barfield said briskly, drawing a line through Edward and Bella's names. "Congratulations to all. The cast will be posted."
Slowly, Nessie picked up her music folder and left the stage, totally dejected.
Then Edward and Bella came dashing in from opposite sides of the theater.
"Ms. Barfield! We're here!" Edward yelled.
"I called your names," Ms. Barfield said sternly. "Twice."
"Please." Bella couldn't believe it. After all their work, all their planning…
The drama teacher was firm. "Rules are rules."
But as she turned to go, she saw that something different, unexpected, in fact, altogether astounding was happening. The theater was starting to fill with people: students and spectators from the basketball game and Scholastic Decathlon; all the members of the basketball team, led by Jasper; all the members of the Scholastic Club, led by Alice…they were all coming to watch the auditions!
Rosalie and Barrett watched the gathering crowd, confused. This wasn't part of their plan. Still, the theater is all about dealing with the unexpected, so Rosalie quickly said, "We'll be happy to do our number again for our fellow students, Ms. Barfield."
The teacher shook her head, still watching with amazement as the theater filled to capacity. "I don't know what's going on here. But, in any event, it's far too late, and we don't have a pianist."
Barrett and Rosalie smiled, relieved. Barrett looked at Edward and shrugged. "Oh, well, that's showbiz," he said happily.
Desperate, Edward said, "We'll sing without a piano."
Then they heard a voice, previously a timid voice, now a surprisingly bold one, call out, "Oh, no, you won't!" Nessie charged onto the stage. "Pianist here, Ms. Barfield!"
Rosalie gave her a warning glance. "You really don't want to do that."
Nessie set her jaw. She had had enough of taking orders from egotistical drama queens. "Oh, yes, I really do!" She opened the piano lid with a flourish, slapped down her music, and took a seat. "Ready onstage!"
Ms. Barfield's eyes widened with delight. "Now that's showbiz!"
Edward and Bella picked up their microphones and turned to face the auditorium. It was packed with people, all waiting to hear them sing. As Bella looked out at all those eager faces, she felt her face turn red. Then her knees got weak, and her stomach flipped over, and she thought she might faint.
Their first audition had been for Ms. Barfield, and they hadn't even known she was listening! Now she had to face this huge crowd.
Nessie hit a piano key, waiting for Edward and Bella's nod that they were ready to begin. No one nodded. Bella was standing absolutely still, as if she were frozen. Nessie started to play, hoping that the music would help relax Bella and that she would start singing. But Bella couldn't even open her mouth. Nessie stopped playing and looked at Edward. What should I do? He nodded to her to start again. And then he began to sing, directly to Bella.
"We're soarin', flyin'
There's not a star in heaven that we can't reach
If we're tryin', yeah we're breaking free"
When it was Bella's turn, she covered her mike and said, "I can't do it, Edward. Not with all these people staring at me."
Edward glanced at the crowd. People were starting to look confused. They were murmuring to each other, "What's wrong? Is she all right?"
He turned back to Bella and whispered, "Look at me. Right at me. Like the first time we sang together, like kindergarten, remember?"
She did. And when she looked into Edward's eyes, he looked back the same way he did at the karaoke contest. The spark of magic flared up again, but brighter and stronger. Bella could feel herself relax. She could feel herself smile….
Edward made a signal to Nessie, and she started playing again. Edward sang, heartfelt:
"You know the world can see us
In a way that's different
Than who we are"
Bella smiled even wider and sang the next two lines:
"Creating space between us
'Til we're separate hearts"
Then they sang together, in perfect harmony:
"But your faith
It gives me strength, strength to believe…"
As they continued, their confidence, and their trust in each other grew. They began to sing as though they were the only ones in the room.
Everyone in the auditorium was transfixed by the powerful, real emotion that Edward and Bella were expressing through the song. Coach Masen wandered into the auditorium, wondering impatiently when the electronic malfunction would be fixed and the game would resume. He looked at the stage, and he couldn't believe what he was seeing! His son was singing, in public, and he was really, really good!
Throughout the theater, the music was casting its spell. The brainiac girls glanced at the basketball boys, and the two groups exchanged friendly smiles. The skater dudes nodded to the drama kids, hey, if this is musical theater, it's cool, man. All the different groups, usually separate, were united as they watched a completely unlikely pair –Edward dressed in basketball warm-ups and Bella wearing a lab coat – sing to each other with genuine emotion.
As the song ended, Edward and Bella gazed into each other's eyes. For one long moment, there was total silence. Then Nessie stood up and began applauding. So did Coach Masen. Ms. Barfield called out "Bravo!" and "Brava!" over and over again. And then the entire crowd was on their feet, roaring their approval.
Even Barrett and Rosalie started applauding, then they caught themselves and quickly stopped.
Before the applause ended, Edward and Bella gave each other a hug, and Edward surprised her with a kiss on the cheek, and rushed off. After all, they had some unfinished business to attend to….
It was the last few seconds of the championship game. The Spartans were behind. The clock was ticking down. Then Edward suddenly flew across the court, weaving between opponents, heading for the goal. Just as he had practice, he faked right, went left, shot the ball, and…NOTHING BUT NET! The buzzer sounded and it was a one-point Spartan victory!
In the melee that followed, Coach Masen found his son and gave him a huge hug.
Ms. Barfield fought her way through the crowd. As she approached the coach, the old adversaries eyed each other for a moment…then they grinned and gave each other a high five.
As Bella got close to Edward, he called out, "What about your team?"
"We won, too," she said, exited and happy. They hugged each other in congratulations, but just as Edward was going to in to kiss her, Jasper's arm reached in between their faces holding a basketball.
He handed the ball to Edward. "Team voted you the game ball, Captain," he said. They high-fived each other, then he turned to Alice. "So…you're going with me to the after-party, right?"
"Like on a date?" Alice asked, shocked.
"Must be your lucky day." Jasper grinned.
She laughed, and nodded. A week ago, she would have disagreed, but now…maybe Jasper was right. Maybe it was her lucky day.
As Bella walked out of the gym, still beaming, Rosalie came up to her. "Well, congratulations," Rosalie said. "I guess I'm going to be the understudy in case you can't make one of the shows, so…break a leg."
Bella looked at her, startled.
Rosalie smiled, a real smile this time, and explained, "In theater, that means good luck."
And now Bella smiled a real smile, too.
As she moved on, Emmett saw his chance and moved in on Rosalie. "Sorry you didn't get the lead, Rosalie," he said. "But you're still really, really good. I admire you so much."
"And why wouldn't you?" asked Rosalie, who hadn't changed into a completely different person, after all. "Now bye-bye."
He shyly held out a bag of cookies. "I baked these for you…." She took them away as if they were her due, and he walked away.
Edward found Nessie in the crowd and handed her the basketball. "Composer, here's our game ball. You deserve it…playmaker." Nessie nearly fainted. She was being handed the game ball by Edward Masen! She got dizzy, just thinking about how much her life had changed in one short week. Dizzy and very, very happy. She broke into a huge grin and threw the ball in the air.
And when it came down, Forks High School was a different place. It was a place where punk kids could talk to brainiacs, jocks could hang out with drama kids. It was a place where everybody could follow the beat of their own drummer, and other people would cheer them on. In other words, it was a place where people could have fun…together.
After the huge celebration ended, people were still milling around, laughing, talking, and getting to know people they had never even noticed before.
That's when Rosalie came flying into the crowd, pushing people out of the way to get to Emmett. "Your cookies are genius!" she yelled. "The best things I've ever tasted. Will you make some more for me, Emmett?"
Emmett grinned. Of course he would bake for her! In fact…he waggled his eyebrows and said slyly, "I might even make you a crème brulee."