We were all waiting in the living room for Edward and Bella. A lot had gone down with the Volturi, including an agreement to change Bella into a vampire. Alice had shown Aro a vision of Bella as one of us and now it seemed that her future as an immortal was set in stone. Carlisle and Esme stood near the door, both wanting to see Bella as soon as possible. Alice and Sebastian sat on the sofa, the blonde's arm around the pixie; it seemed their relationship had developed whilst Jasper and I had been away. Rosalie and Emmett stood near Jasper and I, Rose feeling guilty for her part in Edward's trip to Italy.
My eyes flicked to the front door as I heard footsteps and a frantic heartbeat that I recognised to be Bella's. I took a small step back into Jasper's chest, his arms coming around my waist, as her scent hit me: delicious as always. Sebastian took a deep breath in and then stopped breathing all together, the only one of us that hadn't been prepared for the intensity of Bella's scent. The door opened and Esme suddenly had an armful of human.
"Bella! We've missed you, sweetheart."
"I've missed you too, Esme," she said softly, hugging Esme back.
Carlisle was next, pulling Bella in for a hug and gently kissing her head. "It's good to see you Bella."
"Hello, Carlisle." Bella pulled away from Carlisle and wrapped her arms around herself, pulling her sleeves over her hands. I recognised it as a sign of nervousness, having done a similar thing when I was human.
"Hi, Bella," I said sweetly, and her chocolate brown eyes snapped up to meet my amber ones.
"Davina," she breathed. All of a sudden, she had crossed the room and was hugging me tightly. Jasper had moved back towards Emmett as Bella had come closer, still wary of his own control around her. I held my breath as I hugged her back, the burn in my throat a prominent reminder of why we left.
"I'm so sorry, Bella-"
"Don't be sorry, Davina, it wasn't your fault," Bella whispered. "It wasn't yours either, Jasper," she added as we separated. Jasper returned to his position stood behind me, his arm around my waist again. He held his other hand out to Bella and they shared a brief handshake. I knew that Jasper didn't trust himself to hug her.
Bella's eyes drifted around the room, glancing at each of us as if to make sure that we were real. Her eyes landed on Sebastian and I didn't need my husband's gift to know that she was confused.
"Bella, this is Sebastian," Alice introduced. The human girl nodded in realisation, Alice must have already told her about our new addition, and murmured a greeting.
"Bella," Carlisle said. "I believe that you wished to discuss some things?"
"Yes," she said, taking a deep breath. Bella moved to stand near Edward on the stairs, the vampire himself leaning on the wall with a scowl. "You all know what Edward wants… And you know what I want. But I won't force myself on you. I think the only fair way to handle this is by vote."
Edward interrupted, "You can't be serious-"
"Shut up," she said firmly, and I shared a smirk with Alice. I was glad Bella appeared to be getting a backbone instead of blindly following Edward's word as law. I loved my brother but he could be a bit controlling when he thought he was right. Edward glared at me from across the room and I just shrugged minutely. It was true. "However this turns out, I can't let you all get hurt because of me. I have to, I'll go back to Italy alone and-"
"The hell you will!" Emmett interrupted this time, a grin on his face. "I'm not missing another fight."
"Emmett, I don't want you involved in this," Bella insisted.
"We've always been involved, honey," Esme told her gently.
"I want you to think seriously about this," maintained Bella. "If I join you, you'll be stuck with me for a long time – forever. It's a huge decision and I want – need your honesty here." We murmured agreements and she nodded. "Let's vote then… Alice?"
"Like you're not already my sister," Alice scoffed, hugging the human tightly. "Of course, yes!"
"Yes," Sebastian murmured when Bella looked at him. "If you're certain this is what you want."
"I vote yes," Jasper agreed. "It'll be a relief not to want to kill you all the time."
"Jasper!" I scolded, nudging him in the ribs. He just smirked down at me.
"Um, thanks?" Bella hesitated. "Okay, Davina?"
"I know why you want this life, Bella," I told her. "And I'm glad that you have the choice to decide for yourself and you can do this on your own terms… mostly. I vote yes."
"Thank you," she smiled. "Rosalie?"
Rose glanced between Bella and Edward, torn. "I'm grateful for everything you've done for my brother… But this isn't the life I'd have chosen for myself. I wish there had been someone to vote no for me." The blonde vampire shot a small apologetic look towards Carlisle. "So, no."
Bella looked a bit disappointed but almost as if she'd expected the negative answer. Emmett took it upon himself to cheer her up and bounded across the room to lift her into a bear hug. "I vote hell yeah!" He boomed. "We can pick a fight with these Volturi some other way."
Esme was next to hug Bella. "I already think of you as part of the family. Yes."
Bella turned expectantly to Carlisle, who turned his gaze to Edward who was still sulking on the stairs. "Edward-"
"You can't go along with this, Carlisle," he denied. "You know what it means."
"You've chosen not to live without her, which leaves me no choice" said Carlisle. "I won't lose my son." He turned to Bella. "Alice has never turned anyone." She'd asked Alice to turn her? "It would be safer if I did it."
We all flinched at the loud slam of the front door, Edward speeding from the room in a temper. "Thank you," Bella sighed. "All of you." She followed Edward out of the house and we could hear the tyres of his Volvo screeching away.
"Well, that was dramatic," Sebastian joked and we all chuckled a bit.
"You have to understand," explained Carlisle. "Edward believes that we are soulless, and he doesn't want to condemn Bella's soul in order to spend eternity with her."
"Condemn her soul?" he asked. "How can we be soulless if we can love?"
"Try explaining that to Edward," I said softly.
**TWILIGHT****TWILIGHT****TWILIGHT****TWILIGHT****TWILIGHT****TWILIGHT**
I was bored.
Jasper, Alice, Sebastian and I had gone back to high school with Edward and Bella now that we were back living in Forks. The story was that Carlisle and Esme missed living in a little town so they moved us all back from busy L.A., having adopted Sebastian while we were gone after Carlisle's older sister had passed away.
We, except for Alice and Sebastian, were currently sitting around a table in the school cafeteria with Bella's friends, watching them argue over Jessica's valedictorian speech while Angela fussed over her graduation notices. Jess still refused to talk to me.
"My fellow students," Mike stated pompously. "Cool, right? Wow, okay, cute, so – We are the future. Anything is possible… if you just believe."
"Nice," said Angela.
"Blah, blah, blah, perfect," he continued. "And you got yourself a speech."
"No, this will be my speech when I want everyone to throw diplomas at my head, so… Thank you," Jessica snarked. She crumpled the paper that Mike had used and tossed it at his head.
"Gotta embrace the clichés, Jess," he laughed.
"They're the bread and butter of all valedictorians," added Eric.
"And that is why you are not valedictorian," Angela grinned. "And Jess doesn't need clichés. Her speech is gonna be epic. Right, Davina?"
"Yeah, definitely epic," I said, picking at my chicken. Jasper stroked his fingers across my thigh comfortingly, underneath the table.
"Epic? It'll change lives," Jessica boasted.
Alice suddenly sat next to me, Sebastian sitting on her other side. "I decided to throw a party," she declared.
"After all, how many times are we gonna graduate high school?" Sebastian joked, and the rest of us vampires stifled smirks.
"A party?" Angela asked. "At your place?" She looked at me and I nodded.
"I've never seen your house," Jessica added, aiming a small glare at me as if to scold me for never inviting her over once I moved in.
"No-one's seen their house," Eric said.
"Another party, Alice?" Edward sighed.
"It'll be fun!"
"Yeah, that's what you said the last time," Bella griped.
Alice suddenly froze next to me and I glanced around to see her eyes glazed over as she stared off into a future that the rest of us couldn't see. Sebastian placed a gentle hand on her back.
"Well, cool," said Mike. "That's really, uh… normal of you. What time? Dress code? Bring anything?"
Alice wasn't responding and Edward leaned across the table to wave a hand in front of her face, as if she were merely daydreaming. "Wake up, Alice."
"She hasn't been getting much sleep lately," I explained away her behaviour, waving my hand dismissively. "Senior jitters."
"OH, MY GOD!" Jessica shrieked, practically diving across the table to grab my hand. "Is that a wedding ring?"
"Oh, uh, yeah," I said. "Jasper and I got married in L.A."
"You got married?"
"That's what she just said, Jess," Angela told her, leaning in to examine the diamond wedding and engagement rings set on my left hand.
"Is that even legal?" Mike asked.
"We're both eighteen," Jasper said.
"Yeah, but you're in high school."
"So?" I asked. "We love each other and we know its forever. Who cares?"
"Well, was it a beautiful wedding?" Jessica demanded. "You have to show me pictures!" Well, I guess she's speaking to me now, I thought.
"Sure, Jess," I said, thinking of the photographs that were suitable for human eyes. With a distinct lack of humans at the wedding and reception, none of us had bothered keeping up the façade that we were human.
"Davina looked stunning," Alice stated, clearly having finished with her vision. She pulled out her phone, showing them photos of myself posing with the bridesmaids, Jasper and Carlisle and Esme.
I shared a look with Edward and Jasper, knowing that Alice's vision had been serious. I raised a subtle eyebrow at Edward but he shook his head mouthing, later.
What had Alice seen?