-MAISIE-


Rudely, none of my high school friends came back to Forks for the summer.

Lauren loved California too much, but I knew that would happen. Jess had taken on a summer internship—a great distraction and reason not to come back, since she had broken up with Mike. Not that Jess would have had to worry about that; Mike and Tyler had gone on a road trip together to the East Coast.

I felt like they were all moving on from Forks, and there I was, laying on my bed and staring at the ceiling. Gunner and Ava were in school, Mom and Dad were at work, Jasper and Alice were hunting. And me? Staring at my ceiling, because I currently had nothing better to do.

I was also tired, though. But I was refusing to take a nap. It was getting a little more frequent, I was pretty sure, how tired I would get by the fourth or fifth day of the week between my feedings. I wasn't looking forward to the sixth day, when I knew the body aches would start.

Only nineteen years old, but I was pretty sure I was going on seventy at this rate.

I was losing my battle against an accidental nap until the rock hit my window. That scared the hell out of me, ripping me from that fuzzy space right before you fall asleep. Heart hammering, head disoriented, I ran a little clumsily to my window.

The view below revealed Emmett to me.

"They made phones for a reason," I grumbled, knowing he would hear me even without the window opened. He waited for me to push it open before answering me, though.

"What fun is a phone call when you could see my smiling face in person, Maisie?"

I leaned across my window seat, sticking my head out the window. "Well, when you put it that way… Hey, what're you doing here, anyway? Jasper said y'all wouldn't be coming until July."

"Jazz doesn't know my life," Emmett retorted. "I took my exams early and beat Rose here. Let me tell you, Maise, New York sucks. I've decided I hate it and I wanted to come home as soon as I could, even if it meant jetting without my wife. She's not happy with me, by the way, so you should try to be nice to me before she kills me."

"You made the choice for these transgressions," I pointed out to him. "Mind telling me why you've blessed me with this house visit?"

He directed one of his dimpled smiles at me. "We're going to be scientists in South America."

This was enough to pique my interest. I held up a finger to Emmett, telling him to wait, before closing my window and slipping some shoes on. My need for a nap could wait. I met Emmett at the front door moments later.

"You could've jumped and saved us both some time."

"What's time to you, anyway?" I countered.

"Valid. Are you still slow?"

I scrunched my face at him in mock offense, making him laugh before he crouched low. "I take that as a yes. Hop on; I'm immortal, but that doesn't mean I've got all day to wait around for you."

Now, Emmett was taller than Jasper. I was fairly certain they were about the same speed, but the added height of Emmett—or maybe just my temporary fast from my blood feedings—made me nauseous as he ran through the outcropping of forest that separated the Cullen house from mine. A genuine effort not to throw up had to be made on my part, even with my eyes screwed shut.

Lucky for me, Emmett was largely unconcerned with everything that made me human. He and Alice were alike that way, often forgetting how different I was from them. He led me into the house and carried on, completely oblivious to my struggle to not puke.

"Rose is studying medicine again, did you know that? She was writing a paper on debunking junk medical information humans can find online. I need to preface this with: she's already told me this isn't going to work, but I'm a good scientist and need results."

"But what is it that we're doing?" I asked, because he was waiting for an answer. Since I knew he wouldn't notice anything amiss, I sprawled out on one of the couches.

"An experiment! It involves coconuts and me starving myself for a week."

"Alright, you've got me." I conceded defeat, still not seeing where Emmett was going with this. He claimed one of the armchairs across from me, leaning forward so that his elbows rested on his knees.

"I'm gonna wait a week, let my eyes go black, and then drink some coconuts. Supposedly there's some enzymes or whatever, I don't know, in coconut water that's similar to the makeup of blood. Enough that some people have suggested using coconut water as a blood transfusion replacement in extreme emergencies."

The blank stare I was sure I was giving Emmett didn't deter his excitement over this in the least bit. Currently, his eyes were very gold, letting me know he had fed recently. Those golden eyes were shining, his smile letting me know he was fully convinced he was onto something here.

I didn't have the heart to tell him I was pretty sure I would die if coconut water was injected into my veins in the place of blood and plasma.

"I'm gonna hypothesize it'll take at least five glasses to make your eyes change color." Who was I to ruin this for him?

"I'm going with twenty. I can't remember the last time I had any human food, but I'm still gonna call that an educated guess. Wait, how much blood do you think is in three deer?"

"I…don't think I've ever thought about how much blood is in a deer."

Emmett shrugged, reaching for the TV remote. "I'm just gonna go with the very scientific estimate of 'a lot'."

"You're so smart," I murmured to him. Why I decided to lay down again, I had no idea. Even in the Cullen house, which was always just a little too cold because no one who regularly lived there noticed, and with Emmett talking to me, I was fighting sleep again. This time the accidental nap was too strong.

Eventually, while I listened to Emmett ramble on, I fell asleep before I realized what was happening.


When I woke up, it was dark, and I was much warmer. I was also no longer in the Cullens' living room; I was in Jasper's bedroom. He was probably the one who moved me from the couch to the futon, with the added bonus of a blanket.

"Hello, sleepyhead," Japer's voice greeted me through the dark. I rubbed at my eyes, letting them adjust, until I could see him across the room. He was sprawled across the floor, as he often was, a book in hand. Of course, the dark was no detriment to his reading.

"Hi. What's that?" I stretched and rolled over so that I was laying on my stomach, propping my chin in my hand. "And what time is it?"

"Slaughterhouse Five…o'clock."

I nearly threw a pillow at him for that joke. At least I got gratification out of the fact that I knew he could see my disdain through my eye roll. "You're lame."

There was a soft rustling, the only indicator of Jasper's movements. Suddenly, he was before me, running his fingers through my sleep tousled hair. "You're going to be late for dinner."

"Oh, no, I hope I don't get grounded!" His soft chuckle washed over my face. I leaned forward until I was able to kiss him. Little moments like these reminded me how much I loved living with Jasper in Alaska. Too soon, I pulled away, knowing I would have to leave the cozy warmth of the blanket to go home. Instead of lounging around and Jasper bringing me food like he did when I wasn't feeling well, I would have to sit around the table at my own house and put on a good face.

My parents, of course, had no idea I was sick. How was I supposed to explain it to them? Hey, I'm being slowly poisoned by vampire venom in my blood and the only known cure is to become a vampire myself.

"Twenty days," Jasper reminded me, guessing at where my thoughts had wandered. He ran his thumb along my lips. In twenty days, we would be in South America, searching for more information on venom-infected humans.

"I'm sure as hell not wasting all those shots Carlisle gave me."


"There goes the prodigal son."

Exactly a year after my own graduation from Forks High School, I found myself there once again. Only this time, it was Gunner walking across the stage. It was a damn good thing he was walking, too—I was going to be pissed if he failed his bio final with myself, Leah, and Derrick quizzing him around the clock.

"Yellow's not his color, huh?" Leah whispered back to me. "My poor guy."

She wasn't wrong. The gold shade of Forks High's graduation gowns wasn't doing any favors for Gunner's bright red hair and ivory skin, but that was hardly his fault.

"Red hair, hand-me-down robes…" Leah thought my Harry Potter reference was funny, smothering her laugh in her hand before snapping another picture of Gunner. Jasper, however, immediately betrayed me by shushing me, and my dad reached across Leah to tap my arm.

"Hey, remember that it's useless to complain about picture quality if you smack the family photographer." I was certain at least one of the shots I got of Gunner walking across the stage would come out blurry when I looked at them later.

Where was Emmett when I needed someone to fully appreciate my jokes? Jasper was the only member sitting through the graduation ceremony for the third year in a row, bless him.

Graduation was only the day after I was late to dinner at my own house. Jasper convinced me to drink some blood last night, and now I was happy he had. If I was still feeling so tired and achy, like I had been yesterday, there was no way I would have been able to sit through the long-winded graduation. What Forks lacked in student population, they made up for in drawn-out ceremonies and speeches.

When Gunner did finally get to walk across the stage, it was such a blip in time. I knew he was walking too fast on purpose, to avoid getting much pictures taken. Unfortunately for him, Leah and I were both armed with cameras. Between the two of us, I was sure there were more than enough pictures for Gunner to groan about. There had already been a whirlwind of pictures before we even left the house earlier this afternoon.

And there was a flurry after, with Mom insisting we pose outside the front of the school in various groups. Jasper took the majority of those pictures.

"I do have a question," Leah asked when we all piled into Gunner's car to follow our parents and Ava to Port Angeles. She turned in the driver's seat to look at Jasper and I in the backseat. "Don't get offended."

We were going to dinner, so I couldn't blame Leah for being curious. Before the words even left her mouth, Jasper caught on, giving her one of his slow smiles. "Just because I don't need human food doesn't mean my body won't digest it."

Carlisle had explained it once to me. Vampires used to be human, after all. The venom that was poisoning me was mostly used to create vampires—a process that involved the venom changing DNA composition when it was diffused throughout the body via blood. Pretty much all digestion processes, aside from the stomach and saliva, are null and void in vampires. Human food will still get digests; it just reaps no benefits for the vampires.

"Also, he'll probably be sneaky and order something really similar to everyone else and then redistribute his food on everyone else's plates." I was not above further selling out Jasper's secrets for appearing human. I liked watching Gunner's reactions too much. You could practically see the gears turning in his head, probably remembering all the times Jasper had 'eaten' dinner at our house when we were in high school.

I leaned forward, to take in Gunner's expression in the passenger seat. His eyebrows were drawn together, and he cut his eyes toward me.

"You're never gonna get tired of this, are you?" He asked me.

"You mean making you question your perceptions and everything you've ever known? No, never."


I'm sure Edward knew, because of his pesky mindreading, but I hadn't told anyone—not even Jasper or Gunner—how I was on a mission to commit everything I could to memory. If becoming a vampire was my destiny, I knew from Rosalie that you could keep human memories if you played them over and over again in your mind. I was just getting a head start on that process.

Gunner's graduation dinner was no different.

Ava, putting on a show of slurping her fettucine noodles like she was on Lady and the Tramp. The huge, glitter bow Mom had put in her hair kept catching the light, and she insisted on drinking sparkling grape juice because Mom had a glass of wine.

Dad and Ava playing tic-tac-toe on her kids' menu. She was a terrible cheater, putting her fingers over any square that would have given Dad a win. He was a good sport, though, letting her have the win for every game.

Gunner and Leah holding hands under the table. The finger waves in Leah's short hair, which Alice had taught her to style. It still blew my mind that I could get Alice and Leah to hang out with me at the same time, given the strife between vampires and werewolves. Though I knew it was largely for my benefit, I thought Leah might be coming around.

My brother was all relieved smiles and blushes as we showered presents on him. Our parents gave him a large, flat box which Gunner opened to reveal a new laptop. I had gotten the same gift at my graduation, for college. Leah and I also had a large, flat box for Gunner, but it was because we had split the cost of an Xbox One for him. Ava, not one to be put out, had made Gunner a bracelet with her bracelet maker, and Jasper had a money gift from the Cullens.

Jasper, of course. Even if I was fated to join him in eternal life, I didn't want to forget Jasper as I knew him now. He was unfairly handsome in the fluorescent lighting of the restaurant, hair and eyes golden. The mischievous twinkle in his eye when he snuck some of his mashed potatoes onto my plate.

Most of all, I didn't want to forget this feeling. The radiating warmth and happiness, which I knew Jasper was feeling, too, despite himself. His moods so often bled into mine, what with his empathetic powers—though my family was human, and Leah a werewolf, I knew Jasper was happy, too, because I could feel it.

I loved Jasper and his family, but with mine is where I felt whole.


A/N: Gunner graduating is something that would be important to Maisie, which is why it's featured in this chapter.

Next chapter, we're going to South America.

I love y'all. I'll see you then.