{Exploring}

If Alice had actually been drinking the bottle of water she was holding up to her mouth, she surely would have choked. "You and your dad are going where?"

"We'll be going to Volterra tomorrow," Bella repeated, unsure if she should be concerned or amused by Alice's response. She took a bite of her sandwich, chewing and swallowing quickly when Alice did not say anything. "Tanya will be coming with us too; Aro needs my help. And my dad will be brought up to date with everything."

Alice frowned. "They're going to tell him the secret?"

Bella glanced around the cafeteria, seeing everyone was too busy with their own conversations to listen in on theirs. Well, Alice's siblings, who were sitting on the other side of the hall, would obviously hear it, but she was not too worried about that. "Yes. Especially since it concerns me and my future, no matter what I decide to do."

"Won't that be like leading him to his own death?" Alice asked, confusion clear on her face. "He'll need to be changed then, right?"

Bella shook her head. "The Volturi have rules and systems put into place for situations like mine. Surely you don't think I am the only human who is 'in the know'?"

Alice put her drink down on the table, brows furrowing. "You aren't?"

Bella blinked. "I thought everyone knew this. They live in a village full of humans! I mean, not everyone knows what is going on, but there are enough people who have been told some version of the secret. That way they can live in peace without having to keep an eye on the humans, who tend to be very fantastical in their imagination and rash actions. Or, at least, that is what Heidi said."

"Oh," Alice said stupidly, sitting back in her chair. "That makes sense."

"Either way, what I was saying is that we will be flying out tomorrow, so I won't be in school next week."

Alice smiled. "I'll miss you."

An unfamiliar feeling bubbled up in Bella's stomach at those words. She took a deep breath to calm herself and smiled back. "I think I might just miss you a bit too."

A charged silence hung between the two of them for a few long seconds until Bella cleared her throat. "Would you message me any assignments we get? The teachers know I'll be gone because of a family emergency, but I'd rather not lag behind too much."

"Of course!" Alice said. "We should definitely keep in contact either way. You could send me pictures! I've heard Italy is really lovely, it's one of the few places I haven't been to yet."

"Thanks," Bella said, checking the time on her phone to see lunch hour was nearly over. She picked her bag up and started loading her supplies into it. "I'll definitely send you pictures, just remind me to go outside every now and then. Did you know they've got this really big underground system of tunnels and rooms?"

The bell rang, setting everyone back into motion. Bella and Alice waited until the majority of the people had left the cafeteria before standing up themselves.

"English, right?"

Alice nodded. "Classroom two forty-seven."

"Let's go," Bella said, weaving through the chairs and tables towards the doors.

The remainder of the day passed at its own sluggish pace, like usual. Bella shared most of her classes with Alice, and soon noticed Alice was slightly clingier today. Not that Bella minded much. Whenever they did not sit next to each other – which was, admittedly, not that often – they would spend the lesson texting in secret. A blush was now permanently printed on Bella's cheeks, something Angela teased her for when they slipped out of Chemistry class to use the bathroom.

"You two are so cute," Angela said as they stood in front of the mirror.

Bella blushed even more furiously. "Ange!"

"What?" Angela said, wetting her hands under the faucet to smooth down her hair. "It's true! And" – she lowered her voice to a whisper – "this is extra special because it's your first teenage romance."

"Ange!" Bella said. Her eyes were wide. "We don't have a- a romance going on! We're just friends, that's all."

Angela wiggled her eyebrows and wiped her hands on her jeans. "That's what they all say."

"Stop it," Bella groaned, playfully shoving Angela to the side as she made her way to the door. "Keep on dreaming, it isn't going to happen."

"Just you wait!" Angela shouted, moving to follow Bella back to the classroom. "Just you wait!"

Tanya said something similar to her when they finally sat in the car at the end of the day, on their way back to Bella's house. "Alice totally likes you."

The blush, which had somewhat calmed down with the freezing cold air outside, came rushing back. "No, she doesn't! We're friends, we get along well, that's it."

"Oh, oh," Tanya tutted, shaking her head as she pressed down harder on the accelerator, speeding down the streets. "You really should have more trust in your own ability to woo women, darling."

Bella sputtered, holding on to her seat when they turned right. "I'm not wooing anyone! I'm sixteen, I'm not even interested in that stuff."

"I beg to differ," Tanya said. A sly grin crept up on her face. "Kate is going to love this."

"Oh my God," Bella said, eyes widening. "Please don't tell her anything, she'll go absolutely mental and do something stupid."

"That," Tanya said, slowing down as they approached the driveway. "Is exactly why I'll be a good big sister to you and tell her everything."

Bella groaned.

Her phone stayed suspiciously silent that afternoon, nearly making her believe Tanya had been joking. Slightly relieved, she spent her time packing her suitcase, checking the weather forecast online to see what she should bring. She liked to be prepared for every situation, even though it would not be a problem to go out and buy anything she had forgotten. Her mood was pretty stable as she made her way through her closet and cupboard, at least until she opened her desk drawer in search of her journal and her eyes fell upon the letter she had stowed away there. Before unwelcome thoughts could enter her mind, she shut it and moved on to her book shelves.

Now was not the time to unpack that.

In the end, she had a neat pile of clothes to fit inside her suitcase, along with all the other necessities someone on a week-long trip to her vampire uncles and their coven should bring.

It was not until she was preparing dinner – read: heating up leftovers – that her phone buzzed with a new notification. Bella glanced at the lit-up screen only to groan in a mixture of exasperation and dread. Right there was a single message from Kate, with the smirking emoji as its only contents.

This was going to be interesting.

Dinner with Dad was nice and relaxed. He told her all sorts of stories of what was going on at work and it was very clear that he loved his job, which made Bella happy. For quite some time she had carried guilt around, heavy guilt, because her moving in with him had meant he had to settle down instead of being able to travel around the country.

Still, she had never doubted his love for her, which felt amazing. There were no conditions she had to comply with to earn his affection. Sure, they fought sometimes, and they definitely did not always get along, but that never affected his fair treatment.

It had been a positive change for her when she had first moved in.

After dinner she tidied up small things around the house, letting her dad take his time to pack his own suitcase. Nerves bubbled up in her stomach as she thought about what would happen in the next week. It was difficult to predict what his reaction would be, and it was way too easy to overthink the entire situation and end up in a downward spiral.

To take her mind off everything, she put on some music and texted back and forth with both Alice and Angela whilst she made her way through the house. By the time her dad was done packing, she was sitting on the couch, typing another message explaining the importance of lots of caffeine for humans to Alice.

"Ready?" her dad asked, seating himself in the armchair near their hearth.

Bella glanced up and gave him a small smile. She hoped the nerves she felt would come across as some kind of sadness, because she knew she was a terrible actor. Her dad still believed they were flying out to Italy to visit her gravely ill great uncle, after all. "As ready as I'll ever be."

Luckily her dad did not read too much into it. "I think I'll turn in early tonight, we've got a long day ahead of us. Tanya will be picking us up?"

Bella nodded. "We'll take her car to Anchorage."

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow morning, then," her dad said, standing up. "Don't stay up too late, alright? You need your sleep too."

"Will do," Bella smiled. She was planning on going to bed somewhat on time, anyway.

Or at least, she tried. Her head was just too full of thoughts and worries and it made her brain overflow. After an hour of tossing and turning in the dark, she sighed and reached out to her nightstand to turn on the small lamp that stood there. She grabbed her book and lay back down, angling herself so the light would illuminate the pages as she started reading the night away.

Tanya arrived to a way-too chipper Dad and a grumpy-looking Bella the next morning. She raised her brow at the muttered greeting she received, accepting Bella's dad's offer to come into the hallway as he went upstairs to get their suitcases.

Bella tried to shove her feet into her sneakers without undoing the laces and huffed when that apparently was not going to work. She flopped down onto the ground and took the knots out before trying again.

A white cup appeared in front of her face just when she had re-tied the laces and she looked up to see Tanya holding the hot coffee. She blinked, then quickly reached out and took it, trying a sip to see she did not burn her mouth and proceeded to down nearly half of the contents. Taking a look at the writing on the cup, she saw 'decaf' was not checked.

"A little pixie waited for me up the street," Tanya said in explanation with an exasperated look. Tanya – and her sisters – had been trying to get Bella off caffeine, seeing how apparently 'wasn't healthy', not that Bella bought into that shit. "She told me to give it to you with a kiss from her."

Bella nearly choked on her mouthful of coffee and spluttered. "She didn't!"

"Nope," Tanya said, with a shit-eating grin. "But that was so worth your reaction."

Bella was happy Tanya kept her mouth shut during the car ride with her dad. This was definitely not something she wanted him to be involved in, in any way. He could not be trusted with that information. She was quite impressed that Tanya did not comment even all the way through the airport, as Bella blushed at the messages she continuously received from Alice.

During boarding Bella nearly tripped over her own feet when she was bowed down over her phone, not paying attention. Tanya was quick to grab onto her sleeve, saving her from face planting right onto the dirty floor.

"Someone is-" Tanya started, her tone teasing.

"Don't even say it," Bella interrupted, pointing her finger at Tanya with a glare. "Don't even think about it."

Her dad, who had been good-naturedly watching their bickering, looked even more confused now, but fortunately he did not ask about it.

By the time they were sitting in their – business class (Aro wouldn't settle for anything else) – seats on the plane, Bella was absolutely exhausted from both a lack of sleep and having to tow herself across the busy airport without touching anyone else. As soon as they were in the air she slouched back in her seat and closed her eyes with a deep sigh.

"Miss? Can I get you anything?"

Bella blinked and looked up, meeting a pair of bright red eyes.

"I'm not lost. I'm exploring."

A/N: Hi there! It's been a while – again. I wasn't planning on waiting this long to continue writing this story, but life happened. I did spend these past few months slowly editing the chapters I had already written to try and get back into everything, until I finally had some inspiration yesterday and started writing :) I hope you enjoyed it! It was nice to get back into everything. I'm not sure when the next chapter will be written, because I've first got a sequel for The Bittersweet Dance of Life (also twilight, also very gay, go check it out if you haven't already ;)) in the works! But I'll try and fit another chapter for this story into my schedule. I know I did y'all dirty with that cliffhanger XD

As always, thanks so much for reading my story and favouriting/following! And a special thanks to everyone who has left me a review, it always makes me so happy when I receive a notification :) If you have some time, please do let me know what you thought of this chapter!

Sending you lots of love,

- Laura