Author's Note
Grad School has been crazy. I'm sorry this is so late.
Tell me what you think, and I hope you enjoy!
-Page Break-
Bella kneeled and pet Rosko on the head. "The back door is open to you, just come back." Bella spoke softly, in the last few weeks since revealing her plan everyone had been cautious around her. She supposed they were trying to make her impending future better, so Bella let them. She let Luther get her a new Cello, allowed Alaric and Vanessa to take her and Jeremy out to dinner more often, and tried her best to enjoy every kiss and embrace Jeremy gave her. She didn't mind the actions, but it had begun to bother her how no one was talking about the future around her anymore.
Unlike before, there was no more talk about college or life outside of Forks, and it was beginning to get on Bella's nerves more and more. She wanted to hear about the schools Jeremy got into, about Alaric's experience in college, she wanted to have that normalcy back in her life.
"Hey, Bumble B." Jeremy spoke walking into the kitchen. "You ready to go?"
Bella nodded and stood dusting her jeans off. "Did you finish your report for English? It's due today."
"I finished it about 5 minutes ago." Jeremy replied with a grin as he grabbed Bella's bag for her as they walked out of the house. "It's the best work I've done in such a short amount of time."
"I bet it is." Bella replied placing her sunglasses on. "I need my cello today…" She groaned moving to turn back to the house.
Jeremy laughed, "How could you forget? You've been preparing for this performance forever!" He replied as Bella hurried back into the house. Jeremy placed her bag in the car and watched as Bella carried her cello to the car. "Did you think if you left it at home Luther wouldn't make you perform today?"
Bella scoffed, "If I had left it, he would just make me play something else or he'd just pushback the assembly so that I had time to go home and get it."
Jeremy smiled, "He's one of those proud fathers on the sidelines telling everyone that's his kid out there. I bet he'll ask Alaric to record it for him, and he'll send the video to everyone he knows."
Bella smiled at the thought but knew deep down it was true. "I would laugh, but I think that's exactly what he's planning, he does it all the time."
Arriving at the school Bella was more than aware at the fact that Edward was staring at her from across the parking lot. She did her best to ignore the sensation and turned to Jeremy to see him carrying her cello case. "Thanks, Jer."
Jeremy smiled, "I'm really doing this for me, I want everyone to think I'm a kind and considerate boyfriend."
"If you want to do that, you should also be carrying my backpack." Bella replied with a smile. "And walking me to every class."
Jeremy laughed, "I do all that already."
"I know." Bella replied leaning forward to gently kiss. "Thanks.
Jeremy's smile broadened. "After today, you don't have to take music class anymore, you can join another club. We could join the yearbook staff and see if we could convince them to give us an entire page of just us."
Bella rolled her eyes, "You know, we can just pay for a page, they offer those for seniors."
"I think we should do a cheesy couple photoshoot." Jeremy replied with a smile. "We could take a bunch of pictures in a field with a picnic that we'll throw away once we're done with the photos."
"That sounds awful." Bella replied with a soft smile. "Let's do it."
-Page Break-
Bella smiled as she stood next to Charlie outside of the restaurant. "I bet he's going to be another fifteen minutes; you want to head inside?"
Charlie shook his head. "We live on the same street and we left at the same time, how is he late?"
"Jeremy isn't good with time management." Bella replied with a smirk looking over at her dad. "I date him cause he's pretty."
Charlie huffed out a small laugh. "Let's get a table so that we can at least be warm inside. What do you think he's doing?"
"A part of me fears he might have gotten lost." Bella replied with a soft laugh as she followed her dad inside. The two paused when they heard someone call out their names. "He's been here the whole time!"
Charlie sighed, "We wasted fifteen minutes waiting for no one outside."
"In all fairness there wasn't any logical way he was supposed to get here before us." Bella replied as she walked towards the table. "Hey, Jer."
"What took you guys so long?" Jeremy greeted as he stood, pulling out Bella's chair for her.
"We've been outside waiting for you." Bella replied with a roll of her eyes. "You should've said something about getting here before us."
Jeremy smiled and shrugged his shoulders. "Probably, but I just figured the Chief got called in on something and you guys were just running late."
Charlie sighed and looked over the menu. "You kids have any idea what you want to order?"
Bella smiled and looked over the menu. "Honestly, I think I'll just have a salad with a side of fries." Bella replied setting aside her menu.
"I'm real proud of you, kiddo." Charlie spoke sincerely as he knew that as always, he was just going to order the steak dinner.
"You should have seen her, Chief." Jeremy spoke with a wide grin. "Her playing was phenomenal today, most of the kids at our school looked so surprised when Bella was on stage."
"Well, Bella has always been a natural on stage." Charlie replied, he signaled the waitress over and each of them placed their order before they returned to their conversation. "So, any word on what you kids plan on doing after graduation?"
Jeremy tensed; he had worked so hard to keep this topic from Bella's mind. He was about to change the topic when he noticed the smile on Bella's face.
"I got into Juilliard." Bella replied proudly. "I got the letter just the other day, I've been offered a scholarship that is enough to pay for schooling and housing."
Charlie paused a proud smile on his face, his eyes shining with tears. "I knew you could do it. They would've been fools not to take you."
Bella smiled, "I also got a letter back from the Manhattan school of music and it's looking like I got into all my safety schools. Now, it's just a matter of deciding where to go."
Charlie chuckled. "I don't really think it's much of a decision, Bells, you've been planning on going to Juilliard for years. Come August I can bet that I'll be taking you up to New York for school."
"I think it was just the challenge of getting into Juilliard that made it more appealing." Bella replied with a shrug. "Honestly, I think I'll go somewhere with sun, I miss the sun."
"What about you, Jeremy?" Charlie replied turning to look at the boy. "What do you have planned?"
"Oh…" Jeremy paused shifting his feet lightly. "I got into a few art schools, Bells thinks I can make it as an artist, but I'm not so sure yet. I did get into some other schools, my dad used to be a doctor, it wouldn't be so bad to follow in his footsteps."
Bella smiled placing a hand over Jeremy's knee. "We still got some time to decide where we're going, dad."
-Page Break-
Bella smiled, watching Jeremy climb out of her window. "You can use the door, Jer." Bella called after him as she watched him grab onto a branch. "Charlie knows you were here."
"I'm trying to do things like in the movies." Jeremy replied as he swung himself down onto the ground. "You know, regular teenage romantic stuff."
Bella smiled leaning against the window frame, a fond smile on her face as she looked at Jeremy. "I'll see you tomorrow, dork."
Jeremy grinned up at Bella. "Till tomorrow, Bumble B." He shouted with a smile before he turned and jogged off to his own home.
Bella stayed by the window a small smile on her face, she would forever be grateful that she had someone like Jeremy in her life.
"Why didn't he use the front door?" Charlie questioned as he stood at the entrance of Bella's room.
Bella shrugged turning to smile over at her dad. "He's dramatic." Bella replied she looked at her dad noting the tired expression on his. "Early morning tomorrow, pops?"
Charlie nodded, "There's been some robberies in the area, they're targeting mostly elderly people, but it's starting to put people on edge."
Bella nodded, "You should get some sleep, old man, you look dead on your feet."
"Sleep tight, Bells." Charlie spoke before turning and moving to his own room.
Bella smiled "Night, pops." Bella moved closing the door to her room and moving to get into bed, a small smile graced her face as Rosko jumped onto the bed. His large body taking up the majority of the bed as he made himself comfortable.
-Page Break-
Bella opened her eyes and saw the surrounding forest that looked eerily familiar. Her blood ran cold as she saw a version of herself pass just in front of her, only she knew this had to be Elizabeth taking her form. Slowly Bella followed after the other version of herself, she steeled herself as she recognized the scene, this was her murder. Hopefully, this time she could see who it was that was coming after her.
Bella watched as the other version of herself called out for Jeremy, she did have to praise Elizabeth's acting skills in this moment. Bella's eyes caught the soft blur of something moving in the distance, the twist in her stomach let her know that it was her killer running by. Bella's hands twitched when she saw the cloaked figure approaching, the Volturi symbol standing bright against the black
Bella flinched when she saw the figure tackle to her to the ground, the hood was still covering her face as whoever it was bit into Elizabeth's neck practically tearing it in two. Bella wanted to help, she wanted to see the face of her killer, but she had to let her vision play out. Bella felt relieved seeing her father appear to handle the killer.
Bella couldn't hear what it was that her father was saying, her eyes caught the face of her killer. Where there previously were dark brown eyes now there were bright red eyes that sneered back at her. Her heart was beginning to beat rapidly as she stared at her own mother covered in blood and laughing at the look of pain on her father's eyes.
Bella gasped sitting up in her bed as she woke up, her heart was still beating quickly, and she felt her hands trembling. Bella moved to her window and jumped out, she didn't bother putting on shoes or trying to be quiet, she just needed to get out of the house. She looked around the street, contemplating going on a run, but caught the sight of the light in Jeremy's room still on.
Bella walked across the street and made the familiar climb to Jeremy's window. She lightly knocked on the glass until she heard the rustling on the other side before Jeremy slid the window open. "Mind if I come in?"
Jeremy shook his head and stepped aside letting Bella in, "What's wrong, Bumble B?"
Bella shrugged, she shifted on her feet doing her best to avoid making eye contact with her boyfriend. "Is it okay if I spend the rest of the night here?"
"You never have to ask that." Jeremy replied he stepped closer and took in the look on Bella's face. "Bad dream?"
Bella forced a smile. "You could say that."
Jeremy moved closer and wrapped his arms around Bella, he felt his gut clench in sadness when Bella's arms tightened around him leaving him almost breathless. Her head pressed into his neck and he could faintly feel the wetness of her tears on his skin.
Jeremy wasn't sure how long he stayed with Bella wrapped in his arms, he was only sure that at one point they had moved from standing to laying on the bed, but still neither of them slept. Bella's tears had stopped at some point, but she still hadn't spoken about what had bothered her so much. Now, the sun was beginning to rise, and Jeremy knew there was no way either of them would be going to school.
"Let's go downstairs, I'll attempt to make you breakfast." Jeremy spoke quietly.
Bella nodded and sat up, she followed Jeremy and walked into the kitchen. "I saw my mother." Bella spoke as Jeremy began to move around the kitchen, she watched him pause and turn to her. "Turns out she's been busy since she left."
"What is she going to do?" Jeremy questioned worried.
Bella gave a humorless laugh, "Well, she brought me into this world, and it seems she's going to be the one to take me out of it." Bella felt tears swell in her eyes. "I knew she always hated me. The only reason she kept me was to take revenge on Charlie and then Luther, she left when I was no longer of use to her... I never thought that she would be able to... I didn't think she hated me enough to kill me."
"Bells." Jeremy spoke softly stepping closer to her.
"I don't understand why she hates me so much." Bella spoke quietly her voice breaking. "I don't know what I did to her, Jer." Bella reached up wiping away the tears she didn't want to fall.
Jeremy moved closer embracing Bella. "It was never you, Bella. It's her, it's always been her. She's sick and never deserved a daughter like you."
Jeremy hated fate, hated that Bella seemed destined to suffer no matter what choice is made. "I'm sorry for everything, Bumble B. You deserve much more than this."
Bella sniffled, she pulled back and wiped her eyes. "I'm going to get home; Charlie should be waking up any minute now and I don't want him to know I'm gone. Besides, we should be getting ready for school."
Jeremy reached out to stop her, but Bella was gone before he could move to argue. He sighed and looked around the kitchen, he'd make them food to go and take her out somewhere where they could just be. But first, he was going to send a message to Luther to let him know that neither he nor Bella would be attending school that day. Jeremy had plans for the two of them.