Soon after the gym was calm…er, there was the big morphing thing with pictures. It was first a baby picture, then Public school grad picture. Then, this year's graduation picture came. I really hated mine. It looked like I was in another dimension floating through time and going back into the early nineteen hundreds. I really was going back. No-one knew that. I was really traveling back in time though. Being with Edward.
He was on the other side of the camera. The school could not afford to pay a professional, so they used graduates. Edward was the best with cameras, so they made him photographer. He took beautiful pictures. It was obvious that a professional photographer could not have done better. He didn't just use flash to brighten the pictures, whenever he smiled, so did the person being captured in the photo. It was brilliant.
"Look Bella! It's you!" yelled Jessica from the stage.
Great, don't you love it when people point you out? Especially when it is to show people a picture of you covered in chocolate cake on your first birthday? I know I don't. My grade eight grade picture was not much better. I had braces in and my hair was a mess. I had not idea it was picture day that day, so I got to school late and everyone was being photographed.
"Edward," I said in a slow voice.
"Yes, my love. What is it?" he spoke in that angelic, singsong voice.
"I was just wondering," I hesitated, "Why don't they put pictures of you and your family up there for grad?" I think I knew the answer, but, wouldn't the school make you give them pictures?
"We don't have any pictures of our human life Bella. We just tell them that and…" now he hesitated.
"Dazzle them into letting you away with it I suppose." I said in an obvious voice.
"Yeah, we "'Dazzle"' them." He laughed and I followed. He sounded so much softer than I did though.
After all the pictures of the grads were shown, we all got to dance again. They played Awkward Last Words, some songs I didn't know the names of that I have heard before, Hellogoodbye, The Quiet Things That No-One Ever Knows and some slow songs. The very last song they played was Graduation.
When that song was playing, everyone cried. Even some of the guys like Eric and Tyler were crying. Edward looked greatly depressed by the thought of graduating. Alice looked sad because she had gotten along quite well with some people in our lunch group. Jasper looked like he was about to run out the door, and I honestly could not blame him. He was stuck in a room full of people. The smell of warm blood from dancing, the looks of the tired teenagers. Nothing, nothing, could call out to him as much as this. He had already graduated once. Why did he need to go through this again? He could have just left. But Alice had been looking forward to this night for months. She got out dresses way before the necessary date.
The only people that didn't look at all upset were Lauren and Mike. I think they were happy to get rid of the Cullen's. Lauren was most likely happier to be getting rid of me than anyone else.
"Let's got," I heard Edward say as soon as the song was done. Alice and Jasper came with us. We all knew what was happening next. The only one who seemed tense about it really was Edward.
He was still intent on keeping me human. He didn't believe in turning me...He just wanted me to stay how I am now, just not forever. He obviously loved me, so he could not just decide on not changing me because he doesn't want to be stuck with me. Maybe it is because he doe love me that he doesn't want to take my life. The only thing wrong with his thinking is that, he is my life. He always would be.
The car ride was quiet. Too quiet.
Alice and Jasper looked almost exuberant now that we had left the school. Jasper for obvious reasons, but I couldn't tell why Alice was. Did she love me that much too? Did she like the idea of spending eternity with me that much?
We got to my house and Edward came in with me.
"Bells," It was Charlie. "That you?"
"Yeah dad, it's me." I replied.
"What time are you leaving for school?" he asked, he sounded so sad. He was now standing next to me in the too-small kitchen.
"I am leaving once I get packed up. I will miss you dad, you know that don't you?" So I lied about where I was going. I had to have some excuse for leaving. He thought that I got a scholarship to a collage in France. He knew I was pretty good at French and was easily taught new things, so he bought it.
"I love you sooooooo much," he hugged my too tightly, "Remember to pack your clothes for nice weather, bad weather, toothbrush, toothpaste, everything you need. Please call once and a while. Call your mother too, you know how she gets…"
He was not done giving me that talk yet so I had to hear it. He wouldn't let me leave.
As soon as he was done, I went to my room to pack.