Now I can't let go of this dream
I can't breathe but I feel good enough

"Guess what?" Claire asks, bouncing in her seat with excitement.

"What's that, Claire-bear?" I say, tapping the break when the light changes to red.

"I got a part in the first-grade play!" she brags enthusiastically.

"You did?" I press, smiling with happiness at Claire's obvious excitement over this small achievement. "What play is it? And what part are you?"

"The play is called Once Upon a Lily Pad," Claire explains. "It's about a little frog who is tired of doing frog things so he goes to explore the jungle. I got the part of chick number two."

"Everyone knows chick number two is the coolest of all the chicks," I agree solemnly. "Congratulations. The play sounds very, um, interesting." Claire grins widely, basking in the praise. Ah, first grade. What I would give to go back there. "So, do you have any lines?"

"Yeah!" enthuses Claire. "I get to talk after chick number one. Let me find my line." She tears through her reused Hannah Montana bag from last year and produces a thin slip of paper. It's a wonder she hasn't lost it yet. Don't first-grade teachers know better than to give six-year-olds small objects and expect them to not lose them? "'We just stay at our pond,'" Claire recites. "That's my line."

"Wow, that's a great line." I turn onto Claire's driveway. "All right, Claire-bear, go 'head and hop out. I'll see you tomorrow, 'kay? I'll be there in the morning to take you to school."

"Bye, Quil," Claire says. She leans forward to peck my cheek before gathering up her bags and skipping to the door. Her mom lets her in, waves to me, and then shuts the door behind Claire. I pull out backwards and drive back to my own place in silence. I ignore the minute stabs to my heart as I drive further away from the center of my universe. After four years, I've gotten used to them.

To think it's been four years. Four years ago, everything was total hell. From the Sam-Leah-Emily drama, to the Jacob-Bella-Edward thing, then I had to go imprint on a two-year-old, then that army of bloodsuckers hell-bent on destroying Bella, and finally Jacob's imprinting. Now, it's complete peace. Sam and Emily are happily married, Leah's happy and in love, Bella and Edward and the other bloodsuckers are in a truce with the rest of us, Jake and Nessie are happy, and Claire and I are good. Everything is how it should be.

What a difference four years can make.

thanks to chocoholic4eva for catching my mistake on the last chapter. i don't own Once Upon a Lily Pad. in fact, when i was six, i was chick number two in it. that was my line. so i just bequeathed the part unto Claire. thanks for reviewing. please please please no ghostreaders! i can't stress this enough. i'd much rather have reviews than favorites or alerts, okay? so review PLEASE. try to make it to 20? thanks all! lovelovelove, m