Hello again. Here's another chapter lol.

Chapter 21

I was worried about Bella, I guess. A part of me didn't want to admit it because she was choosing this. She wanted to be a vampire, and that wasn't something that was really up to me anyway. Besides, it might not even take, like with how it didn't for me, which might be devastating for her, but that wasn't really my concern anyway.

I sat on my bed, twiddling with the envelope Mason gave me and trying to take my mind off Bella. I was a little nervous about what was inside, but with all the vampiric thoughts plaguing my mind, maybe it was a good idea to look inside. Bella was never going to be the same…

I tore open the envelope to find two very different looking pamphlets. One was for a Washington State University history summer program, which lasted about two weeks. It was available for people my age to get them excited about college and probably to make them want to go there next year specifically. It seemed interesting, but it was obviously used to cover up for the other pamphlet in the envelope. So that one was clearly for me to give to Charlie as a cover, because the other one was clearly made to be obvious to anyone who was aware of werewolves and vampires.

On the cover, it looked fairly normal. The pamphlet was for the same school, but when you opened it up. The program was explained to be as an outreach for closeted or new magical beings that needed help learning about their new abilities. It had photos of selkies and mermaids for the water magic program, and a bunch of normal looking people they claimed to be witches, and some other ones. I was sort of in awe of the whole thing, but it also made sense. I already knew about werewolves and vampires, so it didn't feel like much of a stretch to learn about more magical beings. Now I just wanted to know which ones were actually real and which ones weren't.

In that moment, I knew I had to take this chance to find out.

.

I started off by calling the number in the pamphlet to find out if they still had slots available, seeing as it was only a week away. I was excited to find out they did. The lady I spoke to on the phone sent me more information by email as well as paperwork to fill out, which included questions like whether or not I was closeted, my knowledge of magic, etcetera. It was surprisingly in depth.

When I finished up with most of that, I set the other, less conspicuous pamphlet on the kitchen table for Charlie to find. I figured he'd like to know that I was looking at colleges that were nearby, and honestly couldn't see why he would decline to allow me to go to the program.

Which left me with just one last thing… telling Willow and Jacob about it. They weren't going to like me disappearing for two weeks all of a sudden, since it would seem like something I would've talked about a lot more. Especially since it masqueraded as a history program, which was something I was known to not love. I wasn't even sure if I was allowed to tell them about the mystical school part, nor did I really want to… because then I'd have to explain what was going on with me, which wasn't exactly an idea that made me want to get up in the morning.

I could always not tell them, which would probably only make things worse, but the idea of not having to tell them did make me feel better. I sat down on my bed with a sigh. I wasn't ready to face the day anymore. The idea of being forced into a situation where I had to explain all the reality strangeness and stuff wasn't sitting so well in my stomach.

I fell onto my bed with a groan, my hands pulling my phone to my face. I was greeted with the lovely surprise that Willow had already texted me.

Willow: I'm coming to pick you up at 11. No protesting. You looked out of it after Bella's reception.

I continued to stare at it for another minute, feeling my nerves beginning to tremble. I let out a low groan. I was never prepared for how good of a friend Willow tended to be. Too good. Suspiciously good. The perfect best friend.

Me: I suppose I'll let you kidnap me this time.

I buried my face in my pillow. I had less than an hour before Willow would get here, and I hadn't even begun to figure out what I was going to tell her.

.

"You look more stressed out than you did yesterday," Willow commented when I hopped into her car. I shrugged my shoulders slightly.

"I came to the realization that Bella was going to come back a vampire," I responded stiffly, "I haven't even begun to figure out how to feel about that." Willow nodded solemnly at that.

"She might come back a human though, you know," she pointed out. I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Maybe, but that wouldn't make sense unless he had some other sort of motive to making her fall in love with him," I replied. Willow frowned slightly.

"Well, there relationship has been relatively toxic to her…" she said. I sighed putting my face in my hands.

"She was talking about going to school in Alaska, dude," I groaned, "That basically says 'I'm gonna be a vampire and there's nothing you can do about it.'" Willow chuckled.

"Or maybe she's just an emergency snack," she offered.

"Ugh, no. I'd like to at least believe he's not going to eat her," I responded. Willow shrugged.

"You never know. Edward seems cryptic like that," she told me.

"I feel like he's the type to convince her it's not his choice to make," I replied, tucking my hair behind my ear.

"Probably. It's completely his choice though," Willow pointed out, "He's got his own pair of fangs after all."

"Oh, I definitely agree," I said with a sigh, "But Bella said once that they don't even drink blood from humans, but like the wildlife from around here. What if they have some sort of complex about even being a vampire, like an 'oh, you don't want to be a vampire. We're monsters.' Then they would be extremely against even thinking about turning her."

"Wow, vampires with morals? It's certainly possible. I don't really see what would be the huge issue that makes them adverse to turning people," Willow mused. I scratched my head gently.

"I honestly couldn't say either," I sighed. Willow shrugged.

"It's mostly just benefits if you think about it from a human's perspective," she started, "No dying, super strength and speed, glitter skin…"

"Yeah, but you need blood to live, and there's that pesky pain part when you turn too," I responded, throwing some cons out.

"Minor, if you consider the fun hunting trips they go on, for the blood part," Willow refuted, "And the fact that they're not killing humans. The pain of turning also makes sense considering your body is changing, probably from a virus or something. It'd be cool if we could get our hands on some vampire blood to figure out how the change affects them."

"Good point. I would also enjoy putting some research into that, but we'd need some degrees to even understand what we were looking at," I pointed out.

"Yeah. That's why I've been thinking about getting a bio degree or something," Willow smiled. I stared at her for a moment as she pulled up to her house.

"Awesome," I breathe, feeling my chest tighten, "I have no idea what I'm going for. I'm actually thinking about going to some dumb history program at Washington State in a couple weeks. I'll probably hate it, but like, what have I got to lose?" I laughed awkwardly. I've always been such a bad liar. Willow snorted.

"Really? You're hilarious, Maddie," Willow said with a grin on her face.

"Hey," I said, pretending to be offended, "Don't make fun of me." Willow laughed at me, and somehow, the rest of the day went off without a hitch.

.

I talked a little bit about the program with Charlie when I got home, and he seemed to approve, which was a good thing. I was starting to feel a little more settled then, less anxious. I sat at my desk, surfing through random articles about big foot or mermaids, which was probably more hoax than fact, but I was bored. The amount of lore about every mystical being I could think of was innumerable and contradictory to the point of being mildly incredible.

Eventually I came full circle and started watching Buffy episodes off of some site that probably was in illegal possession of them. Either way, I was still going to watch them. I didn't even notice when Jacob popped in my window.

He tapped my shoulder lightly, "Hey." I jumped in surprise before looking behind me.

"Hi. What's up?" I smiled. I supposed that was considered a pleasant surprise.

"Nothing," Jacob shrugged slightly, "Just wanted to see you." I paused the episode of Buffy I was on with a pleased smile.

"Just wanted to see me?" I said, sliding up to him. He wrapped his arms around me.

"Of course."

so this probably feels a little rushed at the end? idk. I should've ended it sooner but I didn't want to...

MariMart: Thanks, pal. *sobs* It's nice you didn't forget about me.

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