I DON'T OWN TWILIGHT

I am sorry, this chapter is mostly a filler, and shorter then usual, but it kinda forshadows what will come later on in the story. Read && Review.

Chapter 10:Old Enough

BPOV

"Bella?" the voice on the other end asked. "Yeah, hey," I answered him in a shaky and uneven tone. For two reasons: one, I was tired from a long day so my voice was squeaky, and two; it was Edward Cullen; and I really hadn't expected him to call me back at all.

His musical chuckle on the other end woke me up and was able to make me conscious and coherent long enough for my brain to really process what was happening. "How was Biology Hell with Banner?" I jokingly asked, hoping to lesson the tense atmosphere just a little bit. It seemed to work because he laughed and answered back, "Biology Hell, as you put it, wasn't as bad as what tomorrows meeting is going to be like with to Mrs. Benton."

I had to agree, that was definitely another event that I wasn't really looking forward too either. "Well, there's always the option of skipping out on the meeting and not applying to college at all. Oh wait, never mind, because that's not an option," I sarcastically sighed, defeated. It made Edward scoff though. "Yeah I know, if only that were an option indeed," he agreed.

The topic on our meeting with Mrs. Benton had died, making the silence heavy yet again. "So how was your visit with the reservation?" Edward finally asked, sounding as anxious as I felt. I smiled at the remembrance of my resolved relationship with Jacob and everyone else in La Push. "It was great. I never realized how much I really gave up for Mike till it was a tad too late."

"Better late then never Bella," Edward told me; yes I had heard that one. "True," I agreed. "So I really didn't miss much in Bio then?" that was my biggest fear, missing work that would take me forever to catch up on.

"No..." Edward dragged on, contemplating what I really had missed. "No nothing that you don't already know. Banner just prattled on about what we did our assignment on. He even used some of my big words," he teased, "I really think he ripped me off there, Bella. And I wasn't even credited," he sarcastically joked.

I laughed back, he actually had sounded appalled. "Well don't worry Edward," I tried to assure him, "You said that you wanted to teach the students too," I reminded him. I heard Edward huff on the other end. He knew I had him there.

"So, Bella, since it is just me here, can you honestly tell me what you are going to tell Mrs. Benton tomorrow?" he seriously asked now, sounding hopeful for a gods honest response. What did I plan to say? I hadn't had a clue at the time, but I knew Arizona definitely wasn't an option for me.

"Anywhere but Arizona would suffice," I explained to him in a rush. "Ah, still haven't talked to your mom?" he asked me, with only the trace of concern in his tone. "Well," I began to tell him about my mother's most recent, and rude, email. "She did write me an email that I just received today," I paused, trying to stop myself from lashing out due to the eternal anger I had built up and stored inside.

"Oh yeah, well that was nice of her to think of you," Edward tried to make me feel better. But I was only just getting started. "Yeah, it was; especially since she managed to inform me that she was getting married in that email – to a man that I have yet to meet," I informed him, with a vicious tone I had especially reserved for her.

"She ...what? How could someone do that?" he asked me, sounding as baffled as I had been. "Yeah I know. Oh, and she wants me to spend Christmas with them, and to move there next year and attend the University of Arizona. There is no way I am facing her. Besides, with my grades, the best school I can get into is going to be SCCC," I huffed, exasperated after my over exaggerated rant. I knew my grades were better then that, but after my mother left, I just let them fall, or I at least hope I had. A child of a sudden divorce hoped to rebel in some way. My grades were mine.

"What's SCCC?" Edward asked confused. "Seattle Central Community College," I laughed aloud. Edward laughed with me. After a while when we had controlled our outrageous laughs he finally spoke, "I don't know why that's funny; I'm sorry. But Bella, I have seen your Biology work, you're smarter then you give yourself credit for. I'm sure that even you can get into an Ivy League if you really wanted to," he tried to convince me. But that was the thing, I didn't want to, and I knew it was impossible.

"Nothings impossible Bella," he told me, as if he had read my mind. I scoffed, "Says the guy who's going to the Ivy's," I immediately clenched my eyes shut and nervously bit down on my lower lip, regretting my words as soon as they left my mouth. I knew Edward wasn't like that, but I just couldn't help but bring it up. I knew he was smarter then me, and that he could do so much better then me, in more ways then just school.

"I'm sorry," I sighed, "I didn't mean to say that, it just kind of came out that way." Edward was silent on the other end. "It doesn't bother me, but I think you're the one cutting yourself too short. Bella, you have to give yourself some sort of credit here," he said. Why did I always have the urge to listen to him? Edward's opinion was the only one that seemed to matter to me anymore.

"What do you think she'll ask us tomorrow? I'm betting that we'll get the whole 'You are old enough to make your own decisions' speech," I hedged; once again trying to lighten the all too serious conversation topic. "Yeah," he agreed with a sigh, "I don't know about you, but I for one am tired of that speech," I chuckled with him. I think every high school student in the history of time was tired of that speech.

"The thing with that particular speech is this," I began, "No matter how old we get, we are still never going to be old enough to make our own decisions; or at least they will never let us be able to make our own decisions." I had thought about this a lot in the past month. If anything I knew that I wanted to get as far away from here as possible, it was my family and friends that were keeping me here.

For the rest of the night Edward and I just talked. We talked about music, school, and our childhoods. We exchanged stories and just got to know each other. I told him of my childhood with Renee and Jacob. How close I was with Alice, my relationships, and even what my biggest dreams and fears were. Edward told me of his parents, Dr. Cullen, and Esme.

He talked about what his mother and father were like, how he and Emmett got along when they were alone, we talked about Thanksgiving, the community farce and we predicted what schools were going to be recommended to us tomorrow. It was nice; just talking to someone different, someone new, and someone who didn't already know my whole life story and wanted what was expected of me. Edward got me that way, he understood more then anyone right now how I was feeling and we hadn't even known each other for more then a month. We just clicked, and it just felt right.

Before I knew it, my cell phone started beeping, and when I glanced at the clock it was going on quarter after two – in the morning. Why did time always have to be against me? Either it went too fast of way too slow. I still wasn't tired, and I wasn't ready to hang up yet. Something told me that Edward wasn't either.

"Is that your battery?" has asked, questioning the faint beeping the erupted to our ears. "Yeah," I sighed, dreading the fact that my battery had to cause our conversation to end. I really wanted to ask him what his plans were for Halloween. "Okay, well I guess I better go charge this thing before its right dead," I slowly told him, hoping that he knew that I really hadn't wanted to end the conversation.

"Yeah, we should hang up now anyway. Mrs. Benton may wonder why all the seniors look so tired," I laughed, right that damn meeting. For a couple of hours I had forgotten about it, and everything that came with it for that matter.

"Okay, well goodnight Edward. I guess I will see you tomorrow outside the guidance office," I pressed, hoping that he got the sign that I did in fact wanted to see him. "Yeah, okay well great, I will see you tomorrow Bella. Goodnight," and with that he hung up the phone.

I took a deep breath and closed my heavy eye lids. I guess I was tired, more tired then I thought that I had been. Before I went to bed, I plugged in my phone to let in charge. I was out like a light before my head even hit the pillow.

***

The next morning I was greeted by Alice who was rushing about in the kitchen. Her grey vest and white blouse fit her figure perfectly making her look extremely professional. She was still glowing, probably thinking about her last conversation with Jasper. I on the other hand couldn't stop thinking about Edward Cullen. I grabbed my books and binder before rushing out of the house to Alice's Porsche. She was honking the horn; hurrying me out of the house.

"What's the rush Alice?" I asked once I was seated in the surprisingly comfortable leather seats; not as comfortable as the Volvo though, I had noticed. "I have to meet with Mrs. Benton early today," I looked at her confused. She rolled her eyes as if it was obvious, "Brandon, Alice. Not all of us have last names with the letter 'S'." I stared at her, I knew that.

"My meeting is first thing in the morning, there's only so many Andersons and Archibald's," she angrily commented in a huff. "I just want as much time as I can have with her, but since I am one of the firsts I have to make it quick. I need to know all the steps I have to go through to apply to go to school in France. My dad already sent the applications to all the best fashion design schools; I just need her to help me translate the French and all the steps I need to go through. So saying that I have a lot to do is an understatement," Alice finally finished, clearly she was stressed.

I actually didn't have to go in till around one o'clock. This was something that I was prepared for. Thanks to my conversation with Edward I knew exactly what it was that I wanted to talk to her about; The East Coast.

When we got to the school, Jasper came right up to Alice and threw his left arm around her shoulder. "What's up Ally?" he asked playfully. He was just as happy that they were moving forward as she was; those two really made me smile, they showed me that there was hope.

Emmett came over and greeted Rose, who had parked beside the Porsche. He also threw his arm around her and led her behind Alice and Jasper into the school. I grinned at my friends and their happiness. Did I miss the public school greetings? Of course I did, but with Mike they never really lasted long. I sighed and followed my friends inside the building.

When I glanced to my right, I instantly regretted it. Behind the school building I had seen Mike and Jessica; at it again. From what I seen those two definitely deserved each other for all I cared. But why did they still hurt me? Why did they still hold that influence?

I turned my gaze to in front of me; just then Edward came out of no where and nudged my shoulder with his. I smiled weekly at him. Edward took my hand comforting me and gave it a light squeeze while he rubbed it with light circles, letting me know that he was there. And that was it. He instantly brightened up my sprits and led me into the building behind the rest of my friends.

I didn't speak till we got to the school foyer. "When do you meet with Mrs. Benton today?" I asked. He was way ahead of me and I was wondering if he knew when he would be meeting with the fate of his next five years.

"Umm...around ten I think," he furrowed his brows while deep in thought, something I noticed he did a lot of. We headed right to the office to pick up our school recommendations. Mrs. Benton had printed out a list of the schools she would be discussing with us to give us a picture of what we were being offered.

I opened my brown envelope at snails pace; nervous of what my options were. Edward opened his with the same speed I had. Together we stood outside the office looking over our list. The first few on mine weren't a surprise. Just like I had predicted SCCC was listed, along with Boston Bay Collage and Washington State, UCLA and to my dismay the University of Arizona. But the two that surprised me the most were: Brown and Yale. Why the hell would I ever have a chance at getting into either Yale or Brown? Both schools were two of the top Ivy League schools, and it's not like I could ever afford such an education. This had to have just been Forks High trying to raise their numbers at the Ivy's.

I looked up at Edward who was still intently studying his list. I crease formed in his forehead. There was definitely a location on his list that didn't suite well with him either.

"So, what's the verdict there Mr. Cullen?" I asked with caution, he still looked shaken up. "Umm..." he mumbled, "Washington State, Berkeley, Juilliard, University of Alaska, Dartmouth, Harvard, and SCCC," he said the last one with a smirk. I was guessing that every student in Forks was given SCCC and Washington as an option, but those two choices were always a given. "You?" he asked me after he quickly looked over his list again. I handed him mine to look over.

He read the list in his head as I intently watched his reaction. As he read them over his facial expression never changed. After he was done reading them over he handed me my list back with an expression in place that never changed; and triumphant smile, which left me confused.

Once I had enough of his cryptic response I had to know the meaning behind it. "Okay, what's with the whole look there you got going on there Edward?" I asked, glaring up at him. "Nothing, it's just that...I knew you were Ivy League material," he laughed while I scoffed.

"Yeah well, I'm Mrs. Benton must have been on crack when she printed out this list, because there is no way I am capable of attending either Brown or Yale, or even Washington State for that matter," I rolled my eyes and turned to head right to my first period class, Edward matching my pace and catching up to walk right beside me.

"Ah, well Bella, aren't you at least a little curious as to why these schools were recommended at all?" I was, but I wasn't about to find out. "No," I sighed, hoping that he would just drop it.

The next thing I knew he was standing in front of me, cutting my off from anyway around him. I was forced to look up into his beautiful green eyes that had held so much depth. He bent down to my level so his face was mere inches from mine. I had the sudden urge to close that distance; this urged both excited and scared me. I liked Edward, but I knew that I was just a simple lab partner to him, but to me he was so much more. I knew in that moment that it wouldn't be long till I was fully head over feet.

I tried to fight back the longing that I had felt in that moment. His breath came over my face. So I looked squarely into his eyes, trying my best to read what was behind them.

"Bella," he breathed, my name slowly leaving his lips. "You need to have more faith in yourself. Mrs. Benton believes in you, your parents believe in you as much as you think that they don't and believe it or not I believe in you too. You just need a little faith. So, why not? Give it a shot, the worst that can happen is that you don't get in."

He took a step away from me then, increasing the space between us, more then I was comfortable with. I wanted him close again, which startled me. I took a breath, one that I hadn't realized that I was holding in.

"Yeah, but the worst that can also happen is that my self esteem goes even lower then it already is, as you so nicely put it," I shot back. But I had also picked up that he had said he believed in me. That was one minor detail that I had most definitely not missed. Edward chuckled, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and walking me the rest of the way to class. "No need to analyze everything Bella, take a chance," I smiled. "Carpe Diem," I laughed while leaning into him. "Yeah," he smiled, "Seize the Day."

My morning classes went by in another blur, only this time the blur was accompanied by my ongoing thoughts of Edward and his amazing scent that still filled and haunted my nostrils.

I met up with Alice between first and second to see what her recommendations had been. SCCC, Washington State, Michigan State, Pacific University, Seattle University and UCLA were the main schools on her list while Rose was given the wide range. She was offered: NYU, UCLA, SCCC and Washington State, Berkeley, University of Miami, University of San Francisco and Pacific University. Emmett already had his heart set on NYU so he hadn't even glanced at his sheet at all.

At lunch Jasper was buzzing about his recommendations. He was given top schools in California, Florida and Washington. He talked it over with Mrs. Benton during his meeting and they both decided that he was going to apply to UCLA as his first choice. Rosalie was settled on attending NYU with Emmett, which wasn't a surprise, and Alice was less stressed as she had been this morning.

Mrs. Benton helped her fill out her France application forms during their meeting, and she had told Alice that she thought that this was a great idea and a great chance for her. Jasper was quiet the rest of lunch after Alice had spoken about her plans to move to France. Edward was applying to Alaska as planned, but said that he was still going to apply to other schools too, just to keep his options open.

I couldn't stand it anymore. Too much talk about school and everything else. I had to get out of there. I walked out, leaving my friends staring at me in confusion. Edward however knew what I was thinking and followed me out to the courtyard.

He broke the silence as he took a seat next to me on the picnic table, pulling out his applications. "I grabbed several different applications, each one having no particular reason, except this one," he gestured to the Brown application. I looked at it and shifted my gaze to his, now I was more then confused. He had never wanted to be the Ivy League man that Dr. Cullen had wanted him to be; that his father had wanted him to be. Other applications on the table consisted of Washington State, University of Alaska, Juilliard, and Dartmouth. Why did Brown hold such significance?

"Why?" I finally asked my voice cracking. I quietly cleared my throat playing with the paper sitting on the picnic table. "I took this application because I knew you wouldn't. You need to apply Bella. This is a great opportunity, and you are going to apply. I'll apply with you," he offered. His voice was so soft, yet serious at the same time. He really did believe in me, and he was willing to walk me through it. He was giving me the push that I needed.

I nodded slowly; this was something that I could do. When I didn't get in I wouldn't be crushed, it would just show him that I was right all along. "Okay and you're going to apply to Yale too," he said so firmly and with so much authority that I couldn't refuse him. How could I when he was so kind and understanding with me.

"Okay," my voice was faint and inaudible, but I knew he heard it. I smiled as he reached for my hand yet again making me melt and feel at ease as he rubbed circles with his thumb on my own hand. He made me feel sure of myself, and he made me feel safe.

When it came time for my meeting, I was called from Mr. Banner's Bio class. Right on cue, I thought to myself as I gathered my things and walked down the aisle and to the room I had been dreading all week long. Edward squeezed my hand one last time before I got up and giving me one last encouraging smile as I looked back at him from the door.

I entered the room where all the other seniors had passed through today, and took the same seat that had been occupied by everyone else before me. Mrs. Benton read over my track sheet and smiled as she removed her reading glasses to look up at me and placed her hand on the table.

To my surprise she smiled. "Ah, Bella Swan, how are we today?" she asked, kindness filled in her voice. She seemed to care, but then again that was only her job. I knew enough to know that people didn't really care about their jobs, half the time everyone put on a show for others; teachers being a great example.

"To be honest," I began, "nervous and highly confused," I said as I started to sit up straight to be the same eye level as her. She chuckled, "You're the first person to answer me honestly," she informed me, "Everyone else that came in here just answered that they were 'fine'." I scoffed, "With all do respect Mrs. Benton, I am not like everyone else, and I am definitely not Yale material."

She looked over my file once more then looked up to meet my eyes. "Well, according to the information sheet you filled out last month, you want to go major in English, move far, and an affordable school. Well Yale is hands down one of the finest English schools that there is, Harvard is too, but when I seen your SAT scores I knew that Yale was more for you. Now look Bella, I feel, and so do your teachers, that you could attend any school in the country, but your lack to self motivation holds you back," damn Edward. He had basically told me everything she was saying.

I wanted to get up and out, but at the same time I wanted to stay and listen. "Yale is a great option for you Miss Swan, it's a dream many students in the world have, and it is also a school that any student would love to attend. If you're going to have a dream, might as well dream big right?" There was still one little issue that she hadn't touched on.

"I can't afford it even if I wanted to," I sighed. "That's what loans are for, and bursaries that are handed out at graduation. And I am sure that your parents have both been saving money over the past few years," she was right they had, but all of that still wouldn't cover everything.

I took a deep breath and gave in. I had already told Edward that I was going to apply to both Yale and Brown anyway, and my SAT scores hadn't been that bad, hey, maybe I did have a slight chance; a very slight chance.

"Okay, I'll take the Brown and Yale applications," Mrs. Benton smiled and pulled them out of the filling cabinet for me. "Now Bella, you are entitled to apply to five schools that is your maximum. Now, Arizona is – "

"No, Arizona is not an option for me," I cut her off, trying to sound sure and firm. It didn't seem to work. "Bella, you mother called me the other week-"

"My mother called?" I asked again shocked, that was surprising. She called the school to ensure that Arizona was recommended and never called to talk to me personally?

"Well yes," Mrs. Benton continued, "She wanted to make sure that you gave Arizona a chance," I rolled my eyes. "Again, with all due respect, you no nothing of what is going on with me and my mother. Like I said, Arizona is not an option," I growled, not meaning to sound so hostile to the idea, but it really was in my case.

Mrs. Benton nodded, finally seeing that I wasn't going to budge at all on the subject. We continued to talk about other schools and what kind of financial support that I would be given. I ended up leaving her office with five different applications; Yale, Brown, UCLA, Washington State, and the University of Alaska.