BPOV

There was a knock on the front door the next morning. Charlie answered to find Alice, who flashed him a perfect smile.

"Can I help you," he asked.

"We're Bella's ride today," she said, extending a gloved hand to offer a handshake. "I'm Alice, by the way."

"Oh, well, uh…" He was impressed with her polite manners. He was always going on about how my generation was the epitome of social degradation and he just couldn't believe the music we listened to and the skimpy clothes we wore, etc. But then, Alice wasn't from my generation. She had been around long enough to be his great-grandmother, at the very least. "It is very nice to meet you too, Alice." He stood up a little taller and invited her in.

"Is Bella still getting ready," she asked.

"She usually doesn't leave for a few more minutes," he guessed.

"Is her room upstairs?" It was clever of her to ask. After all, Charlie had no idea that I had three houseguests last night.

"Up and to the left."

I could hear her walking at a very human pace up the stairs.

"Knock, knock, Bella!"

"Hi, Alice," I greeted her as I pulled my sweater over my head. I noticed she had a bag in her hand. "What's that?"

"This, Bella my dear, is your wardrobe for today."

I couldn't help the skeptical look I shot at her. "Are you serious?" She nodded her head with an icy look, and I was afraid I would never get a word in edgewise if I tried to argue the matter. I sighed and pulled my sweater back over my head. "Fine. It's not a dress, is it?"

"We'll work up to your fancier side, Bella," she said gleefully, so very satisfied that I was giving in so easily. "Don't worry. I picked out something you will like."

She pulled out dark denim with a simple black top and flat boots.

"That's not so bad," I said, wondering if there was other crazy thing lying in the bottom of the bag that she was waiting to spring on me.

"It's really not, is it?" She tossed me the clothes and gave me a wink. "See you outside in five."

Edward was leaning against his car, arms crossed, waiting, as I came outside. He rushed over to my side and grabbed my bag for me.

"Allow me," he said happily.

"Thanks for picking me up today. I wasn't expecting it."

"Isn't that what boyfriends do?" It felt so wonderful to hear that. He opened my door for me and helped me in. It felt a little strange to have someone doing so much for me. I'd never had a boyfriend before and most guys my age wouldn't even think to open a door or carry a bag for a girl anyway.

"Are you going to buckle her in her car seat, too," Jasper snickered from the backseat. He must have picked up on my embarrassment outside and was now only trying to rub it in a little. Alice gave him a slap on the arm. "Sorry," he mumbled. "I just couldn't help myself."

"Try harder," Edward growled toward Jasper as he got in the car.

He drove reasonably enough out of the neighborhood, but as soon as we were on the main roads it felt more like we were flying over the pavement.

It was strange to be pulling up to school in Edward's car. His windows were tinted very dark so nobody knew I was one of the passengers. I wondered how long it took the Cullens to get used to having so many eyes watching them all the time, studying their every move.

"Are you ready for this," Edward asked after he parked the car. Alice and Jasper hopped out immediately and went straight into the school. "Today it's official."

"I am." To be truthful, I was a little nervous. Edward came around to my door to help me out and it was then that I heard audible gasps and a higher volume to the crowd of voices. "Are they really going to be so dramatic," I whispered.

"They can't help themselves." He smiled. "It's human nature to gawk at things that deep down you know are strange. Deep down, they know I'm not human at all."

"Have you ever heard them say that in their minds?"

"They're not consciously aware of it. They wouldn't even think it possible if they gave it any real attention. But they still know."

"Do they think I'm weird now too?"

"You mean by association?" He laughed at the idea, and then tilted his head to indicate that he was giving it some serious attention. "You, Bella, are very beautiful. In a way, that is strange, too. Girls can't help that they want to look like you, and boys can't help that they want to be with you. Humans are animals in that way."

"Am I an animal for wanting you so badly," I teased.

"I like the animal in you." He leaned down to give me a kiss. "I particularly enjoyed the animal in you last night," he whispered very quietly into my ear. "I think you'll make a very good vampire. You had excellent aim. Quite instinctual, really – right for the neck!"

I pinched his arm. "Shh," I hissed in his ear. "Don't say that word out loud! I don't want anyone to pick up on anymore than they already know."

"I promise that we are always very careful."

As he walked me to my locker, he started smirking.

"What is it?"

"Oh, someone is looking for you."

"Who," I asked.

"Someone you have first period with. I'll pick you up after class." He flashed me a smile before he left.

"Bella!" A shrill cry of joy echoed through the halls. "Bella, oh, Bella! You're the best!"

"Jessica?" Her manic rage of excitement was quite the one-eighty from yesterday. She rushed to me and swallowed me up in a hug. "Wow, Jess! What was all that for?"

"Oh, you sly thing, you! How else would he have gotten my number? Thank you so much for giving it to him! Jacob – you know? He asked me to go to the dance with him this Friday! I'm afraid I'll have to let Mike down gently. I wouldn't want to hurt his feelings. We were going to go together, you know, but I would rather go with Jacob. I hope he won't be too put out."

"Well, if you'd rather go with Jacob, you'd rather go with Jacob. Mike will just have to sulk alone." I knew Mike's opinion on the matter, but she didn't know I knew. I let her have her moment of pretending she held all the cards while in fact Mike wouldn't go to the dance with her if his life depended on it and the only reason Jacob was going was as a favor to me. Best she be kept in the dark about all of it.

"Yeah," she said snobbishly. "He's just going to have to find someone else to go with."

She yapped all the way to first period, giving every detail of the dress she was going to Port Angeles to pick up after school. She got us in trouble twice for talking too much a lecture, even though she was the only one doing all the talking. When sarcastically asked if she had anything she would like to share with the whole class, she took it as an invitation to take a poll on which set of earrings to wear. All of that was perfectly fine with me, seeing as how it took everyone's attention off of Edward's girlfriend for awhile. After she was told to sit down and keep quiet, the rest of my classmates kept sneaking glances at me.

"How was class," Edward asked. I was the first one out the door after the bell rang.

"Am I supposed to spontaneously combust, or something? Everyone keeps staring at me!"

"You're just going to have to get used to that, I'm afraid. Don't worry. A few decades will go by and it just becomes normal."

"A few decades?"

"Maybe five?" He laughed at my taking his words so literally.

"Come on. I'll walk you to your next class."

A few minutes into a lecture, the rain began to steadily beat against the windows. I sat in the back, so I could take advantage of the moment by laying my head down on my desk. I'd noticed Lauren and her friends giving me dirty looks when I walked in, and they kept glaring back at me from the front row. I knew it was because they weren't thrilled to see me with Edward. I wondered why it mattered so much to them, anyway. He had never shown any interest in them, so why all the fuss now that he's no longer single.

I burrowed my face into my arms and began to think about Renee. We normally made up right away after fighting on the phone the way we had a few days earlier, but things had become so busy for me lately in Forks. And I wasn't sure what I was even going to tell her. I had always been very open with my mom, and now I had a secret I could never share with her. In fact, it wouldn't be long and I would have to disappear altogether from her life. But I would never want to leave her with bitter feelings between the two of us, and I knew I was going to have to make recompense eventually. I would have to apologize for being so rough on her and she would say something like, "Well, at least one of us is the grown up around here. You were right, Bella, honey."

I worried that Phil wouldn't be enough for her – either that he wouldn't be able to reel her in and he would get tire of her immaturity and leave, or that she would get bored with him like she got bored with everything else, and leave him. Without me, she would be entirely alone, and I would never want a life like that for my mother. She had always depended so much on me and now she would have no one. Maybe I was taking this a little too far. For all I knew, she and Phil would be just fine. It wasn't my job to worry about her relationship like this, but it had always fallen on me to be the one to talk sense into her.

And then there was Charlie. Poor Charlie! I knew he despised not keeping his family together when we were all younger. I knew he had regrets. I knew he still loved Renee. I knew he would take my disappearing act very hard. I could only hope that he would give up searching for me and go back to some sort of normalcy.

I was startled at the sound of the bell. My worried daydreams made the hour fly by so quickly. The rest of the morning flew by just as quickly.

...

Edward sat at my usual table for lunch. So did Alice and Jasper. It wasn't long before Rose came too, and then Emmett. Jessica was ecstatic that our table became the official popular table. She kept saying so as more and more Cullens arrived. I was a little embarrassed by her loud-mouthed adoration of popularity. But I suppose it was better than her mime act in the car yesterday. At least she was back to her old self, minus the jealousy. She was completely absorbed in the idea of her and Jake going to the dance together.

"So tell me more about Jake," she pleaded after announcing to everyone at the table that they were now 'officially and item'.

"Well…" I paused a moment to think what I should say. "His dad and my dad are best friends. If I had stayed in Forks rather than going with my mom, I would probably be going to school with him on the Reservation right now. So, I wouldn't be here now, I guess," I shrugged at that. "He's really good with fixing up cars and stuff, too. He and his friends like to joke around a lot, as you saw the other night."

"Okay then, but what about what he likes in a girl?" Jessica sounded borderline desperate and I was put off at the idea of her asking me how she should perform around him.

"I can't really say. I'm not sure if he's ever had a girlfriend before. But he is a sincere guy. I think what he would be interested in more than anything else is sincerity."

"How do I pull that off," she asked.

Emmett and Jasper chortled, entertained by Jessica's question.

It wasn't long before the bell rang signaling that it was time to clear out of the lunchroom.

"I'll talk to you more about it later, okay Bella? Use the rest of the day to think about it, okay?"

"I'll try."

...

"I know what Jacob Black likes in a girl," Edward said suddenly as we worked on our lab.

"Oh?"

"Yup. And I've got her right here with me," he said with a smirk. "You should have told Jessica to be more like you," he laughed.

"Yeah. I'm sure she would have loved that!"

"It would have been true. And you were right about the sinceritypart. It is one of the most attractive qualities in any person who possesses it."

I saw Mike shoot Edward an angry look.

"Is something the matter between the two of you," I asked Edward, nodding my head toward Mike.

"He certainly seems to think so."

"Hmm."

"What's on your mind," Edward asked gently.

"Nothing."

"It just seems like you are thinking about something."

"I just wish that Jessica wouldn't be so… and Mike wouldn't be so… I don't know. They seem custom designed for one another, and I'm afraid that Jessica might be getting her hopes up a little high with Jake. I don't want to see her fall so hard. I wish there was a way to help Mike see that she isn't so very bad."

"I know you are setting Jessica up with Jacob so that she will stop giving you and Angela such a hard time for finding someone you two can relate to. But the reason you're so happy, and the reason Angela is so happy, is because you two found guys who like you for who you are. Not for something you pretend to be. Just let Jessica hit bottom and she will have to figure out who she is. That is tough sometimes, for some people, but it will be what's best for her in the end."

"Well, before she does bottom out, let's let her have a nice time with Jake first." No matter how temporary of a fix that would be.

"Are you sure that's all that's on your mind right now?"

There was still the matter of what to do about Charlie and Renee, but this wasn't the place to have that sort of conversation.

"I think I'm going to call Renee when I get home. I haven't talked to her at all for a few days."

"I think that sounds like a very good idea." He gave me a smile, but his eyes looked worried. I knew he must have already given my concern about my parents a great deal of thought on his own. I looked forward to finding out what he would have to say on the matter.

…

Edward swept me out of school right after the last bell rang. He was helping me avoid an unwanted conversation with Jessica and I knew that my calling Renee was just as important to him as it was to me.

It was hard to dial her number for some reason. I sat alone on my bed, staring at my phone. The hardest part about being human was wondering if you'd ever see someone again after they died. I knew that I was going to put my parents through the most difficult part of being what they were – what they would always be. And then I was going to skip off into the sunset with the one I loved the most and they would always feel sad over the thought of me. They would never have an opportunity to know that I was still out there in the world, living a happy life somewhere. I felt so cruel.

Eventually I picked up my phone and dialed her number. Keeping the tears back was a hard thing to do.

"Hey baby! I'm so glad you've called. I've been thinking about you all weekend. I'm so sorry about the way our last conversation ended." It was a wonderful greeting. It was just what I'd hoped she would say.

"Me too, mom. I'm sorry for everything I said."

"Oh, sweetheart, you don't have anything to apologize for! You were right all along. But you know your ol' mom… I guess I'm just still growing up. And you – my little forty-year-old teenager!"

We both laughed a little. The tension was gone between us, and I was relieved. And yet, somehow it made it even more difficult to think of leaving her.

"So, will you be coming to see your mom over break?"

"I don't know. I'm not sure," I answered honestly. I really didn't know if I would be around for that or not.

"Well, whatever you decide will be great with me. I just miss you, baby."

"I miss you too, mom. Talk again soon?"

"I sure hope so. Call me whenever you want. Love you!"

"Love you too. Bye."

Just as she hung up, my phone started ringing in my hand.

"Hi Alice," I answered. She had programmed everybody's number into my phone last night when she came to visit.

"So, I think we owe you some ice cream? Is that right?"

She was waiting outside in her car. I rushed downstairs and stopped to say goodnight to Charlie before leaving.

"See you later," he mumbled from the couch. His game was on the TV and his eyes were glued to it. I felt a little down at knowing that they wouldn't be, if he only knew that he had a limited amount of time to spend with me.

…

The Cullen home was a very busy place. Alice had commissioned Rose to pester me about going to the dance now, too. Even Esme was telling me what a wonderful idea it would be. Edward kept glancing into the kitchen from time to time, and I began to suspect that he had put all three of them up to it.

"Are you accusing me of something," he asked as he crossed through the kitchen to grab a notebook from off the counter. He must have been referring to my suspicious looks. He didn't even give me a fair chance to answer. He only laughed and shrugged his shoulders.

"This might be your last dance before you are no longer here," Rose said in a nearly pleading tone.

"Don't you want your father to see you in something beautiful," Esme added. "You know, to have a picture and all that?"

Of all the many 'benefits' of going to the dance that they had prattled off all evening, this was the first one that caught my attention. I folded my arms and thought deeply for a moment. What would really happen when I was no longer here? It was dawning on me that there would be more than two sad parents. There were many details to consider. What would be the cause of my disappearance? An accident? A fire or a car crash? And what evidence would be left behind. There wouldn't be any sort of autopsy because where would my body even be? Was I going to play dead in a coffin for two days before they buried me and would I have to be dug back up? Was I simply going to disappear? And then the Cullens – would they stick around in Forks and pretend to mourn someone they knew wasn't actually dead, at least not in the traditional sense of the word? After all, Charlie would never believe that I had run away, and if the Cullens disappeared at the same time as me it would raise too many questions.

"Bella," Alice asked. "Bella? You in there?"

"Sorry," I said. "I was just thinking."

"About the dance," Alice asked hopefully.

"I suppose the only picture Charlie has of me in a dress is an Easter picture from when I was five. And this could be a final treasure I could leave for him and Renee." All of a sudden going to the dance sounded more than reasonable, it would be irrational not to. "I guess I'm going to the dance, then."

Alice let out a shrill squeal of excitement. "Good! Because I already have everything you need! Come with me."

She took my hand and rushed me up the stairs to a closet the size of a bedroom.

"Is this your room," I asked.

She laughed. "No. This is one of my closets. Jazzy and I share a room on the third floor."

"Oh. One of your closets?"

"There's another down the hall, and this isn't the only residence we own, Bella." She said it as if everyone owned more than one mansion. She pulled out a z-rack lined with formal gowns. "I could see you liking any of these, so I thought I'd give you a choice."

"Oh, you mean I have some say in the matter?"

"Oh, Bella, it's only because Edward made me promise I'd let you have some input. But instead of going shopping, I already picked out the best options and this way you won't accidentally miscoordinate anything. It takes years of practice to have class, after all, and this will probably be your one and only formal event as a real, live human."

"Which do you think is the best," I asked, knowing it would make her happy to pick for me, and also to save myself the hassle of having to try on twenty gowns. "Which one will I choose?"

"Hmm," she said, closing her eyes and concentrating. "Why don't you give each one a look and then it might dawn on me?"

I sifted through the gowns, taking time to touch the delicate cloth of each one and admire the workmanship. It was apparent that these were all designer gowns.

"It still isn't coming to me," she said. "I can't see what you'll choose to wear at all. In fact, I can't see anything about the dance."

"Are you sure I'll even be going?"

She shot me a disapproving scowl. "Don't toy with me, Bella."

"I'm sorry."

"I can see your face in the pictures we will take of you and Edward together the night of the dance, but not the dress. How odd…" She shut her eyes even tighter and scrunched her nose up. "So strange…"

"What is it?

"I can't even see the school. It's like something is… is… in the way?"

"Of your vision?"

"Yes. It's like something is blocking this night from my being able to see it."

"Oh, we'll just have to do this the old fashioned way, then," I said.

"And how's that?"

"We'll assign each dress a number and hold a lottery." I laughed, knowing she would never approve of a thing like that. Again, the disapproving look surfaced. "Okay, okay. I'm sorry. How about this, then? Why don't we let Edward decide?"

She thought about that for a moment. You know, that's not such a terrible idea?

…

"I promise to pick out something that I think you would like," Edward promised as he drove me home. He was flattered that I trusted him enough to pick out something for me to wear. "I have to admit, I've never considered what women have to go through to prepare for a formal event. I hope it you won't think my selection too dreadful."

"Alice already has everything coordinated. I don't mind if you don't even look. You can close your eyes and point for all I care."

"Well, I will be a little more thoughtful about it than that," he said with a smile. "Besides, I know how I would dress you if I really had my say in the matter."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes. But I'm afraid I couldn't take you out in public." We both laughed at that. "Of course, if you'd rather stay home after all…"

"Don't tempt me, Edward."

"Another night, then." I chuckled some more, but he looked rather serious about it. He pulled into my driveway and turned the car off, then turned to me. "Would you like to tell me what else is on your mind today?"

"I want to be with you forever, Edward," I started. "I guess I was just wondering when Forever starts for us?"

"It has already begun."

"I know that our relationship has, but what about the finer points?"

"Are you asking me when I plan to change you into a vampire?"

"I am."

He cupped my chin between his hands and leaned in to kiss me. "You will never be made to feel any pressure about that from me," he said. "That will begin when you say it does. I would never rip you away from your life before you were willing to leave it."

"And what about Charlie and Renee? And the whole town of Forks? What will the story be?"

"We will craft that when you give us the command. You will have a variety of details to choose from. This will all happen the way you choose, Bella. These choices are yours to make. This is your life and you will leave it the way you want to."

"I don't know when," I confessed. "I don't know how much time to give Charlie and Renee. If I had no tracks to cover I would ask you to change me tonight. But…"

"You don't have to spend all of your time as a human worrying about these things," he said gently. "Enjoy your time as much as you can and when you're ready, you'll know. Only you can know when your time is right."

"Thank you, Edward."

"Bella," he said as he leaned in to wrap his arms around me. "I love you so much. I just want your happiness. It's all I will ever desire."

"There is one last person I would want to have a last moment with," I told him. "I already made plans with him for Wednesday night. It was a part of the agreement…"

"To get him to take Jessica to the dance. I know. I overheard."

"Is that alright with you?"

"It will be fine with me," he said. "As long as you promise to be very careful. I'm not allowed to go onto Quileute land. It's a part of the agreement our family made with Jacob's ancestors."

"You won't need to worry," I promised. "There's not a lot of trouble to get into up there."

"You say that. But those reservation kids can be rather reckless, and I wouldn't want him to talk you into doing anything ridiculous, like jumping off a cliff or something like that."

"Seriously? Can you see me jumping off a cliff?"

His worried expression relaxed and we both chuckled at such a ridiculous idea.

"You're right," he admitted. "I don't think I ever could believe that you would do something like that. I suppose I am just being paranoid."

"Just a little," I teased.

He walked me up to my front door as a part of the formality. I used the twenty or so minutes he would be gone taking his car back to his house to take a shower and get ready for bed. I hopped in bed and only a moment had passed before he was at my side again.

"You should get some sleep," he proposed.

I yawned and rolled into his chest. "That sounds pretty good."

"I'll be here when you wake up, love."