Jake didn't return until late the next day, but he still didn't speak to me for over three weeks.
It was already the beginning of May and I only had about three weeks left of high school. I couldn't believe that.
At this point, I only really stayed at Charlie's about one night a week. It hurt too much to be away from Seth, but I had still promised Charlie that I'd technically live in his house until I graduated.
Mine and Emily's business was booming. We actually had to turn people away because we were too booked with me still being in school. After I graduated, we'd be able to do more and maybe even open a shop.
Other than Jake completely ignoring me, it had been eerily quiet. The supernatural silence made me nervous. I felt like something was coming, but I had no clue what or when.
Jacob finally spoke to me the next week (a whole month later) and apologized for being an ass for so long, saying that he missed me as his best friend and that he wanted to make things right.
I accepted the apology because I was like Seth and couldn't ever hold a grudge very long, but I told him that he wasn't allowed to ever ignore me again, no matter what.
Things were finally right again in my life. I only had two weeks of school left, and it passed by much quicker than I'd expected.
On the day of my graduation Seth was there, of course, as well as Charlie, Sue, Leah, Sam, Emily, and Jake. I couldn't invite the whole pack because of a limit on spectators, but I was happy to have the ones there that I could invite.
I was completely nervous that I was going to trip across the stage, but Seth was attempting to calm me down.
"You'll be fine, starshine. You're not even wearing heels." He tried to reassure me, but I gave him a look. "Just don't overthink it. You're graduating High School. You did it, you're done. Now you have to wait a year for me to do the same thing." He winked at me.
Seth had been talking to Billy about graduating a year early (meaning he'd only have one year left). Billy had finally given in (with approval from Sue and Old Quil as well) because of Seth's obligation to the pack as well as his imprint on me. He was already on a reduced schedule because of the pack, so they agreed it was better than him dropping out like Jared and Paul had.
"So Bella, is this your boyfriend?" I heard Jessica ask from behind me. I took a deep breath, plastered on a smile and turned to face her.
"Yeah, Jess, this is Seth." I told her, having hoped to avoid the confrontation. The school knew Seth was my boyfriend, but none of them had actually met him up close thus far. "Seth, this is Jessica."
"Nice to meet you." Seth told her as he wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to his side.
"Wow, so you're like from La Push?" I knew Jessica was flirting with him and it made me angry.
"Yep, just here to watch the love of my life graduate." Seth told her before kissing the side of my head. I knew he could feel my anger at her and he was very clearly putting it out there that he was taken.
"Well maybe-" She attempted but Charlie cut her off.
"There you are, son. Come on, your mom got us some seats up front." Charlie came up to us and put his hand on Seth's shoulder, sensing the tension between me and Jessica.
"I love you, starshine." Seth told me, leaning down to press a soft kiss to my lips.
"I love you too, Seth." I whispered back to him before he was hauled off by my dad to their seats.
The look on Jessica's face was totally worth it. She didn't even know how old Seth really was either, considering he looked nearly 20 at this point and was definitely over 6ft tall.
To my happiness and surprise, I was able to walk across the stage without tripping as all of my family cheered for me.
It was over before I knew it. When I was finally able to meet up with the rest, I noticed Sam, Leah, and Jake were gone, leaving only a very jittery Seth as Emily kept Charlie and Sue occupied.
"What's going on, Seth?" I asked quickly as he grabbed my hand, pulling me into the middle of the crowd.
"Cullen was here." He growled out, pulling me close to him.
"What?! Where? Which one?" I asked quickly.
"The one that we specifically didn't want to show up. He even came into the back of auditorium and was watching you." He muttered. "Sam, Leah, and Jake went after him. Mom is going to drive Charlie and Emily back to the res."
"Where are we going?" I asked him as I noticed him slowly making our way toward the back exit of the auditorium.
"Shortcut." He told me. We quietly made our way out the back door without anyone noticing and I followed him directly into the forest. "Stand back, starshine."
I made sure I was far enough away for him to phase and he took off his pants, tying them to his anklet before handing me his shirt, then he phased into my favorite sandy wolf.
He laid down in front of me and I knew he meant for me to climb onto his back. I did so quickly, placing his shirt and my graduation cap in between my chest and his fur, leaning forward to hold onto the fur around his neck tightly before he slowly took off, careful of me on his back.
As we went, he started whimpered like something was wrong, then started growling almost visciously. I knew he wasn't going full speed, and there must've been a threat too close to us.
I held on tightly and told him, "You can go as fast as you need to, Seth, I'll be fine." He whimpered again before going much, much faster.
I made sure to keep my head down as we wound through the trees much faster than I'd ever experienced running with Edward. It was exhilarating and terrifying at the same time.
I was absolutely terrified that Edward had been there. What was he doing there? When had he gotten there? Why had Seth been so freaked out?
We definitely made it to La Push in record time. Seth let me off his back in the woods outside of his house and then phased back right in front of me. He wrapped his arms around me and sniffed my mark in between my neck and shoulder.
"Seth, what happened?" I asked him, meaning what did he see when he phased.
"He went for us, Bella. Me and you, and not in a friendly way. Sam cut him off just in time, but he nearly caught us." Seth told me as he pulled me inside as quickly as he could.
"Why would he do that?" I questioned quickly.
"You said he's a mind reader, right?" He asked me and I nodded. Oh. "Pack mind doesn't turn off, starshine. He heard everything. And when I say everything…"
"So he decided to attack?" I asked him, still not believing it. He nodded.
"That wasn't all, Bella." He told me and I motioned for him to continue. "His eyes… they weren't gold, they were bright red."
A/N- Did you guys see that one coming?
I know everyone hates time skips, but they're kind of necessary with how I write (mostly dialogue). We'd be here for 10 years going through everything that happened. Honestly, nothing much actually happened during that 5 week skip. They were living their lives as normal. The only thing I do regret not writing for this chapter was Jacob's apology, but maybe I'll have a flashback of it in a future chapter.
Anyways, I didn't post yesterday because I was sitting in a chair for half the day getting the most beautiful wolf tattoo on my forearm. I'm so incredibly happy with it, even though the wrap around my arm isn't finished yet. As I told my other readers from The Right Path, I may try to post a picture of it as this story photo if you guys want me to.