Chapter 15: Edward and Alice graduation
Alice and Edward are counting down the days until Graduation. Since I have learned the trick with my shield to stop everyone from sparkling they haven't been able to avoid school as much. Carlisle will still let them have a Monday or Friday if it has been a good weekend but they don't get midweek much to their disappointment.
The graduation ceremony is to take place outside. The long term weather forecast is giving clear skies. They have got the weather right for once as both Alice and I concur.
I can see us all attending the graduation. The combination of shape-shifting and my shield gives me the option to seen by all my old class mates and call in on my way to Italy. That trip is still looming, each power that emerges increases my concerns especially when Eleazar tells of how Aro likes to collect powerful vampires.
Charlie is overjoyed I'll be in the area just for a couple of days. He and Angela are the only two that know nothing about the supernatural that know about my 'visit'. I trust them implicitly to keep my presence secret. I don't want the press to descend as well; I think I have been out of the spotlight for long enough but you can never be too sure.
Don't laugh but I have practised using my shield and fire abilities to incinerate food so I can pretend to eat and make the food disappear from my plate. I'm getting good at it if I do say so myself. If I can do it well enough that vampires are convinced I'm winning. Okay so it's Emmett that believed but even when he was watching he thought it looked real. I use a shield to put the ashes in my napkin.
Carlisle wasn't convinced initially but I've even won him over. He is even happier with the latest idea though.
I had a true Doh moment after I spent ages practising when I realised I could just use a shield to remove the food and replace it with a shield that creates the illusion of food. So much easier and I can replicate the effect of cutting up food and chunks of food on the end of a fork. It's so easy I can do it for all of us. I even thought of doggy bags so the big dogs, otherwise known as wolves, can benefit and the food doesn't get wasted.
All that practise for nothing! On the bright side I can incinerate a portion or the entirety of anything inside a shield and easily create an image to make it appear as though it's still there; how that can be a benefit I'm still trying to figure out!
Carlisle and Esme were overjoyed when I realised I could remotely trigger the effect. I created a connection to them to see the food then I put the effect on an autopilot, linking into their minds to maintain the effect. Carlisle and Esme have quite a few benefit luncheons with the hospital so I'm in good books now they don't have to eat then regurgitate the food!
Who would have thought that trying to avoid having to eat human food could come in so useful? I'm not talking about just getting to avoid the food but learning process that helped us realise the ability to tie a shield to a mind to give them a small measure of pre-programmed control. Everyone now has the appearance of human skin and eye pigmentation shield that they can switch on and off. Carlisle is testing the age shield. I build the anti-sparkle and blood scent blocking into everything.
I can give them limited control of the mental shields but the physical blocking shields are still a work in progress since they take more energy they are harder to pull up without practice. I can throw a blocking shield that is clear from the outside but blacks out any sight to the occupant. It has huge potential to be used on humans with a mind wipe of the time inside the shield so we can remain undetected. I even figured out a simple static appearance shield to throw over any security cameras. I'm sure I can become more inventive blocking only shielded vampires but there don't seem to be enough hours in the day: Or to be more honest I'm getting ready for a break for the training regime and don't push myself out of hours unless it's something that really catches my interest.
Alice is in her element, new reasons to shop and lots of people to shop for! She is shopping for all the clothes for all of us to wear during the graduation ceremony and for the party clothes for the party afterwards that she has co-opted my house for.
The opportunity for such a large number of vampires to go out in public, in the sun, without a feeding frenzy fear and without causing panic by our very presence was just beyond belief. My abilities to block the sun and blood allow a big portion of that but the human appearances wouldn't make a group of us stick out like sore thumbs. Jasper has the potential to calm the fears of humans in his presence but his blood lust has never allowed him the peace of mind to do more than to get them to, mainly, keep their distance from him. Now he no longer has the fear of accidentally draining them so he and I can play with their emotions so they feel more comfortable around us.
Seven of us went in two cars to Seattle for the shopping day. The Denali sisters in one car. Alice, Rose, Charlotte and I in the other. The shops didn't know what had hit them. We went through like whirlwinds leaving piles of clothes outside the changing rooms but huge amounts of commission at the tills.
On the morning of the graduation I managed to turn the tables on Alice. It was Barbie Alice for a change. We had a great team effort, every female involved in her hair, nails and make-up. We even kept it as a surprise. We had a very happy Alice on her hands, her hyper-pixie pizazz went into overdrive.
When we finished our work on her she decided I needed my hair curling and she wanted to do it. Bouncing with hot hair tongs is asking for accidents. My shield stops the burns on my scalp, yes it's still uncomfortable to vampire skin, but I can't put a shield on my hair or it doesn't curl. Forget I can use the shield to curl it, no that's not good enough for Alice.
It was the pulling of my hair that triggered it. I tried so hard to sit with a happy smile but, well!
"Oww!" she got me again. The volume of my oww nearly covered the small pop that happened at the same time but the smell of burning rubber was acrid to our noses.
"What happened to my tongs?" Alice squealed, "Bella, what did you do?" she stared accusingly at me with her hands on her hips.
I have noticed every time something goes wrong everyone immediately assumes I'm at fault. Okay so I admit 99.9% of the time it's a new power emerging but I still don't like the constant accusations. I feel for Emmett since he is the only other person that gets accused of stuff nearly as much as me. No need to tell me, I know is probably deserved but I still don't being accused.
Two hair driers, a stereo and a lamp later we confirmed I can control electricity. I can actually feel it like an emotion and control the flow of electrons. I accidentally overloaded the tongs causing them to short. I can act as a dimer switch for the lamp, a volume control for the stereo and remotely tune it to different radio stations.
It got me out of more Barbie Bella as I set up a connection between Carlisle and Eleazar. We came to the conclusion it could be a growth of Kate's power combined with Jasper's. They want me to practise in a lightning storm to see if I can control that too. They don't ask for much, do they?
The rest of the day should be uneventful in comparison. Just a school full of people I haven't seen for a year not to mention my father seeing me for the first time as a vampire, not that I'll appear much different to the human me that left but still.
Using my shifting ability, I lost a couple of inches in height and reduced my curves a bit. My features I softened about halfway between human and vampire. My shield did the rest of the work. I made my eyes appear their old brown colour and gave my skin a slight tan, nothing more than I ever had in life.
I set everyone's shields to prevent sparkle and also to stop any human scents from penetrating. I made all the Denali's, Peter and Charlotte look human. I softened the vampire features of all the Cullen's, not enough to be a noticeable difference to most humans but enough to work with long term so we all fit in better.
We make quite an impressive convoy. The Cullen's cars never did blend in very well in Forks. The Denali's had two cars which fit in with the Cullen's perfectly, both very ostentatious!
Peter and Charlotte had arrived to us on foot so they rode with Edward and I. Rose drove her car with Emmett, Jasper and Alice. Esme rode with Carlisle in his car.
Every head turned as we pulled in. That was just to see our convoy of cars. This should be fun, note the sarcasm!
The whispers started as we started to get out of the car. Some weren't as discreet openly staring and commenting about our group. We moved as a group towards the seating area were the other families were milling.
We parted the crowds just by our presence. The giddy thrill in our party at just being able to be outside in the sunshine in amongst a crowd without a hint of blood-lust or the fear of sparkling had us all breaking out in giggles at the least provocation.
I spotted Angela, she had made her way over to us but she was holding back as not to intrude. I was having none of it.
"Angela," I shouted excitedly.
She blushed nearly as brightly as I used to, as all the heads watching us scanned to find the source of my interest.
"Bella," she squealed in response.
She came over and gave me a hug. She leaned in and whispered into my ear, "I'm so pleased to see you safe. Thank you so much for saving me."
I could hear her tears threatening, "I'm so sorry, it was me they were after, you should never have been dragged into it. Can we put it behind us and celebrate today?"
We pulled out of the hug and just looked at each other, "You okay?" I checked. She just nodded.
"Let me introduce you to everyone," I pulled her round gently and we linked arms. I introduced her to all our group, telling her the cover story of a family reunion before the Cullen's and I left the country to travel in Europe. Pretty close to the truth since we didn't think Aro would be very patient waiting for our visit.
The light atmosphere within the group made it easier softening the natural reaction to humans to us. Jasper and I had very little to do. Keeping the dating vultures from circling tempted us to push out fear rather than comfort but we managed to restrain ourselves.
Rose can be such a cold one with any non-family but she made a point of coming over to say hello to Angela. She had followed her progress discreetly after taking her to hospital. She really does care even if she doesn't like everyone to see that side of her.
Angela and I had a lively chat, everything from Forks latest gossip to some of the adventures on my travels, Edward and Alice joining in here and there in our conversation. We had to break up when everyone was asked to find their seats.
Angela was swamped with questions about us throughout the entire ceremony and struggled to politely escape at the end.
Edward and Alice had graduated yet again but they unanimously agreed that this time it was unique for so many reasons, all of which seemed to relate to me!
A quite a few people came across to speak to me but they didn't stay long before they moved on. I suppose I could have used my powers to put them more at their ease but I had no longer conversations with them even when I was human.
I didn't manage to speak to Angela again. Too many nosy people kept detaining her to find out the gossip about me and the Cullen's. She did come across to say goodbye and promised to see me later at the party.
We stayed until the crowds had thinned considerably. The sheer joy of being out in public in the sun was just too much of a special experience for any of us to want to cut it short.
Us 'kids' all went back to my house. Peter might be physically closer in age to the 'parents' of our families but he is too much a trickster at heart so he and Charlotte joined us for the night. Carmen and Eleazar went back with Esme and Carlisle.
Alice had decorated the entire house inside and out. The drive and gardens had a trail of fairy lights strung in the trees. The garden games were all out, surrounded by lanterns. The outdoor furniture all had lights, heaters and speakers built into the canopies, the outdoor music system plugged into an mp3 player with a softer range of music than the disco would play. A disco was set-up on the ground floor, the DJ is booked to start at eight. There was a huge range of food and drinks in the kitchen with lots of plastic glasses and paper plates. The pool was open, Alice had put signs on all the doors. I put a range of swimwear and towels ready for anyone that might want them. The basement games room needed no work, it was always set up. We had locked off all the areas we wanted to keep clear. It doesn't take long when you are a vampire.
We changed into the clothes Alice had authorised us to wear and did hair and make-up to her satisfaction. We had a few hours to kill until we were expecting the first guests. We spent the time in the games room. The boys ended up on the games systems while us girls sat and chatted in front of a movie.
The security systems were all running but on subsonic tonight. We could all hear any alarms but the humans would be none the wiser.
The first car to come up the drive set the security system off with a beep, we all hopped up to check the monitors. It looks like the first guests were arriving in convoy; seven cars all full to capacity, trailed up the drive together.
Edward, Alice, Jasper and I headed upstairs to greet the guests. Jasper took on the DJ job to fill in since they all arrived early.
Edward stood with his arm over my shoulders as we waited at the door. We sniggered to each other as we watched their dance as they tried to avoid being first one to come in. Lauren and Jessica were the first to break away from the cars and head for the house, trailing Tyler and Mike with them. The rest followed like good little sheep.
I shuddered to think where Lauren and Jessica had bought their clothes. If the splits in their skirts were any higher they would be showing their cleavage and if the necklines any lower their panties would be on display, I need to make the assumption that they are actually wearing some for my mental sanity, eww! No I didn't get that the wrong way round, the clothes really were that bad! The orange skin, solid hair and trowel applied make-up completed look.
Even with the obviousness of their girlfriends clothes the boys directed their lust at me; gross. I feel like the penguins in Madagascar, stuck on display to smile and wave while others got to plan an escape!
Mike tried to start up a conversation but I used the 'you're blocking the door' excuse and said we could talk once everyone was inside.
Cars were pulling up left and right now and a stream of people headed in.
Alice had given us strict instructions we had to stick around or make-over threats and shopping threats would come into play. It's not as though she can force me to do anything any more but we complied to keep the peace.
Edward stayed glued to my side which is always a good thing in my book. Mike found us again, I tried to dissuade his advances by explaining Edward and I would be travelling together as boyfriend and girlfriend but it took Edwards reaction to get the message across and get him to leave us alone; I don't suppose it's much fun trying to talk to someone while they are kissing intensely in front of you.
I'd shut out all the extra abilities so I didn't have to listen to or feel some of the disgusting reactions but some kept hitting me. I opened a connection to Edward during the kiss and Mike's thoughts are truly repulsive, I blocked Edward so he could concentrate better on me.
Kissing like this with our thoughts open to each other is just too intense for these surroundings. We broke and just leaned into each other both knowing the other wanted to continue but in privacy. Alice found us lost in each others eyes both wanting more. Little bossy pixie gave us strict instructions to mingle but Jasper had a glint of knowing in his eye. I think Alice will be too busy to keep an eye on us before too much longer. Parties do funny things to Jasper, I did offer to shield him from feeling others emotions for the night but he refused with a wide grin! Without blood lust to contend with he is enjoying the outpouring of the other sort of lust, big style!
Edward's facial and verbal reaction at Jasper's thoughts was very much 'Victorian gentleman' but when I offered to block the thoughts for him he declined. To tease him I asked him if he wanted a taste of the emotions that had triggered Jasper's thoughts, well, he thought a strict 'No' but he mentally stuttered umms and errs and I could hear one thought yelling 'yes' while another sternly said 'shouldn't', the 'not yet' that whispered through his thoughts made me raise an eyebrow at him.
I'm so pleased I can read his mind or his actions and attitude would have me feeling very insecure in the depth of his feelings for me.
I would never let on to anyone but his mind is no-where near as straight-laced as he lets others believe, it has just been his coping mechanism as the singleton of the family for so long. He believed himself to be a soulless monster undeserving of love. He has had a barrier up for self-protection for so long. The dam he built is crumbling and when it goes, well, there is over a hundred years of repressed emotion built up.
He is definitely a dark horse! He has overheard so much over the years he has no shortage of material, he just thinks it is the correct thing to do to wait, well he keeps telling himself that, but he is finding it increasingly difficult to resist.
We aren't rushing things but we both feel such a strong connection. It feels like we are being swept together so strongly, if we collide there will be serious fireworks in more ways than one.
Angela and Ben found us shortly after Alice had given her most recent lecture. We went and sat out in the garden to talk for the rest of the evening. The disco going silent was their signal to leave. It took over an hour to get rid of all the hangers on.
At last every heart beat had cleared out of the house.
We all flew around the house making it look like the last few hours had never happened. It's a good thing no-one came back or we would have been caught in our whirlwind tidying.
The rest of the night we spent relaxed in the games room, playing without having to hold back in front of human eyes. Emmett revelled in the fact that I can level the playing field. I can block Alice's visions, Edward's mind reading and Jasper's empathic abilities. I promised not to use any of my abilities, Emmett only questioned my promise each time I beat him but otherwise everyone trusted me.
Some games have to be modified to compensate for vampire abilities. Perudo is now a firm favourite with huge amounts of money changing hands while betting on each new round.
Alice and Edward found out they aren't as good at chess as they thought. Jasper can wipe the floor with either of them with their powers switched off. Emmett has a field day teasing them about it!