"How sure are you that you want to go on this trip Bella?" Charlie had me cornered in the kitchen while I was making dinner for him. Carlisle and Esme just left the house and dropped the bomb on Charlie that they purchased a ticket for me to join them on their vacation to Rio de Janiero. It was flying out of Miami. I was shocked that they went as far to buy a ticket and give it to Charlie. His doubts made me realize that I underestimated his reaction to the generous gift.
"Dad, I'm super excited. And added bonus, since we're flying out of Miami, I can stop to see mom." Thinking of my mom only caused me to feel a twinge of pain. She had called earlier in the week to give me the good news that she and Phil were expecting a baby boy in four months. I was so excited for her that I jumped up and down. They hadn't decided on a name yet but with this plan in motion, I'd never get to see her again or meet my baby brother.
There were other things that I was going to miss too. I wouldn't be able to graduate high school as a human. Not so much regrettable, but I wouldn't get the chance to say goodbye to Angela and everyone else. One of the things I found regrettable was the fact I was taking the proposal and wedding moments away from Edward. I had no idea how he would react to knowing that he'd miss the opportunity to marry me while I was human, and I could only hope that he'd forgive me. I tried asking Alice but she was secretive about everything to do with the future now that it was extremely aggravating.
"I know. And I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time. It's just…," Charlie paused and looked at the floor and I could have sworn that he blushed a little. "It's just, you'll be gone on this cruise for two weeks, and then you'll be leaving for college, on the other side of the country mind you, a month and a half later. I won't have any time with you honey."
And there it is, the number one regret I was going to feel guilty of. By carrying out this plan, there was little room for closure for Charlie and everyone else who loved me. I'd be disappearing and starting a whole new chapter of my life, and they would have no idea how happy I was that I was with the one I loved. On more than one occasion I tried reworking the plan to allow for all of that to happen, but Carlisle was worried about my inability to control my thirst so close to my transformation. As it was, we were already lucky that the Volturi were making the arrangements to have a private plane transport us over the ocean. There would be minimal contact with humans for me.
"Dad, I know, but it'll be fun. I haven't really had much of that since I've been here, except for all the times I've hung out with you. And besides, I'll be home for every holiday. And since I know the idea of me and Edward moving into an apartment for school makes you uneasy, I'll even leave him back in Rhode Island. His family will be over there anyway. That way no one will be alone for the holidays." I tried to muster up enough pep in my voice to conceal the fact that my heart was breaking.
"Dang Bella, you don't have to do that. I like Edward plenty enough, now I guess. He's been nothing but dedicated since the great return. And I understand it wasn't his fault, so I can't really hold that against him. No, Edward can come home with you anytime." He gave me a kiss on my forehead and walked to the living room with his can of beer. A deep sigh and shudder overtook my body, threatening to break down into tears.
I had just taken the baked fish out of the oven when there was a slight knock at the door. I didn't pay much attention to it until Charlie made a huge production of who was at the door.
"Well look at what the cat drug in! Jacob, I didn't think I'd ever see you at this house again. Long time no see!" Charlie clapped Jacob on the back several times all the while ushering him into the house.
"Hey Charlie, I am not staying long, I only wanted to see Bella real quick." Jacob and I seemed to have an unspoken truce of not speaking to each other. I had made it clear that I was Switzerland in the Wolf versus Vampire campaign, and it wasn't good enough for him. It wasn't until I physically saw him that I realized how much I had missed him all this time.
"Oh, okay. Umm dad, dinner is ready. Can you fix your own plate?" I asked as I grabbed my coat. It was spring but the air was still unnaturally cool outside. Of course if I was a wolf, or once I became a vampire, the weather wouldn't affect me.
"I can take care of myself Bella. If you're only stepping out for a few minutes, how are you going to leave me alone for Rio for two weeks?" Charlie grumbled on his way to the kitchen when I passed him. I swallowed back a smile that tried to escape.
"Wait, Rio?" Jacob asked surprised. I internally groaned because there was only one reaction that Jacob was going to have to this news, bad.
"Yeah, the Cullen's invited Bella to a trip to Rio de Janiero the day after graduation. It was awfully generous of them. But still I wish they'd let me chip in. It's too much." I of course started to feel guilty. There was no way the Cullen's would have let him chip in for a trip we had no intentions of going on.
Charlie began letting the smells from the kitchen entice him more and he seemed to have nothing else to say on the matter.
Jacob closed the door behind us and stared down at me since I had stepped off of the stoop. For a moment, I thought he wasn't going to speak. All he kept doing was staring, hardly even blinking. I was about to brush past him and go back in the house when he finally opened his mouth.
"The Cullen's will be violating the treaty if they do this. We'll have no choice to hunt them down and you, if you go through with this." He said.
"What by taking me on vacation? I don't remember that being part of the treaty." I knew he would be angry but I had no idea he'd outright threaten me.
"You know exactly what I mean. Whether they bite you in Forks or if you're bitten anywhere in the world, the truce is over and we declare war." Jacob was practically growling at me and I couldn't help but wonder when we had turned into enemies. I still had so much love for him, but it seemed that these last few months put an unfixable strain on our friendship where Jacob was concerned.
"There are no plans for me to be bitten Jacob Black! This is really a vacation slash graduation present. As much as I would love for it to be much more, Edward is vehemently against me turning into a vampire. And as such, no one in the family will go against his wishes. I'm going to that island and possibly hoping to get a tan." I crossed my arms across my chest and glared right back at Jacob.
"Don't play games with me Bella. You and I both know neither one of those bloodsuckers can go out in the sun. There is no way you're going to a sunny island with them." He grabbed my wrist and it was like he had no clue how hard he was gripping me.
"It's the truth," I tried twisting my arm out of his grasp, but it only hurt me more than just his grip. "Can you let go of me? You're hurting me." Jacob looked down at his hand and it was almost as if he hadn't realized that he had grabbed me. "The only thing about the trip that we're holding back on is that we're only landing in the Rio de Janiero. Carlisle purchased an island for Esme several years ago. It'll just be us on the island and we're coming back after two weeks. I'll have plenty of time to relax back home in Forks as a human, before I go off to college."
"You're really not planning on becoming one of those monsters?" Jacob asked a bit too longingly than I felt comfortable with.
"As much as I know you're going to hate me for saying this, but I wish." I stared at Jacob impossibly and shook my head. I already hated the idea of lying to Charlie, but lying to someone I considered my best friend hurt too. "Edward will only agree to think of changing me on the condition that I accept his marriage proposal. But since I don't believe in marriage, it's not ever going to happen. Then of course he wanted to come to the council and ask for permission." I sat on the stoop as if I was completely defeated in my quest to become a vampire.
"He asked you to marry him?" Jacob spoke through his teeth and looked away from me.
"I didn't tell you that to make you angry Jake. I've missed you terribly and I haven't had anyone to confide in. I love him, I always will, but I don't want to be pressured into marriage, let alone bribed into it."
"Bella, stay with me. We'll be together any which way you want. If you don't want to get married, we don't have to. I love you, and I know you love me. You won't have to change for me." I looked into his eyes and I could feel myself getting lost in the deepness of them.
"Jake. I can't. It'll always be him. Even if I have to spend my entire life as a human, I'm going to spend it with him." I got up from the stoop and headed for the door. "Hey. Why did you come here today? It couldn't have been about the trip. Charlie only just told you about it."
"I missed you." He said without looking at me and then he did something I never thought he'd do so carelessly. He transformed into a wolf right before my eyes and started dashing into the woods.
I followed his gaze until he disappeared in the dense tree line.
"Hey you're not eating?" Charlie said as he was polishing off his plate. I was too focused to run up and hideaway in my room to eat.
"No. I'm not hungry. I'll clean up later." I called down from the top of the stairs and hurried to my room.
"He didn't catch my scent. He's too involved emotionally to even guard you properly." Edward's silky voice called to me from my rocking chair that I kept in the corner.
"Can you blame him?" I flippantly asked before plopping myself onto my bed. "Why aren't you at the manor?"
"No, I guess I can't. Whenever you're involved I can only think of you. Everyone at the house is avoiding me or thinking of something pretty annoying, or in Emmett's case vulgar things. And my devious little lamb is at the center of it, I'm sure. So I've come here to dull their minds." I smiled as Edward left the chair and came to sit beside me on the bed.
"Are you mad?"
"Hmm?"
"Mad that I'm keeping something from you…" I whispered.
"No. I may not like this method, but I know you. And this is something that you wouldn't take lightly. I just wish you weren't scared of the Volturi."
"How could I not be? Everyone claims they're ruthless killers that claim it's necessary to do so under the law. They sound so power hungry and vile. Of course I'm scared."
"We can handle it Bella." And with that he kissed me and started humming my lullaby. It seemed like forever since I'd heard it and I welcomed it along with the sleep that accompanied it.
I was surprised to find myself alone when I woke up, well, surprised but happy. It was still a bit early for me to get ready for school, but I was going to need the extra time to make everything work. I hurried in the shower, and I left my hair wet to dry naturally. I changed into my jeans and a blue sweater and quickly walked down the stairs.
I was a little shocked to see Charlie sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee reading the paper. His hair was messed up from the night but it was totally endearing on him this morning. "Hey Dad," I nodded to him as I grabbed one of my text books and shoved it into my bag.
"Hey Kiddo, you're up early."
"Yeah, I need to get some gas in the monster and I want to get some studying done for my Chemistry final." I said nonchalantly. I walked up behind him and hugged him from behind around his neck. "Dad, I love you, and I'm so glad I made the decision to move here."
He clasped my hands with his free hand and turned his head to give me a kiss on my cheek. "I love you too Bells, and I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am that you made that decision." I gave him a kiss back on his own cheek before picking up my bag. I was fighting back tears as I turned back towards him from the front door. "I'll see you when I get home." But he didn't see me since he had already returned back to the newspaper. The tears were pouring down my face by the time I reached my car. I laughed at how I slipped and called the blue convertible that Alice gave me, the monster. It was my nickname for my old truck. For the most part, Edward insisted on driving me everywhere so it was on a rare occasion that I even drove the new and improved beautiful machine. I never even really had time to properly mourn the truck. I guess since the car was so smooth and fast, maybe the name monster could still fit.
I stopped to get gas at the station on the way to school and went inside to pay. The attendant was surprised that I came inside since I usually just paid at the pump. But he didn't think much about it when I bought a bottle of water and a bag of sunflower seeds along with my gas. First stop done.
I also stopped at the small coffee shop on the way to school, and chatted up Mike's older brother Chris as he made my hot chocolate. Stop number two.
I turned into the school parking lot and took several deep breaths before getting out. I ran into the administrative building and was glad to see Mrs. Cope.
"Hey darling, what can I do you for?" Mrs. Cope's fire engine red hair was even more unnatural looking which only meant she had another dye job recently. The matching red lipstick was smeared on her lips and even some of her teeth.
"Umm, I came by to pick up my cap and gown." I handed her my ticket so she could retrieve it.
"Oh yeah," she said with an excitement that I didn't know she could manage. "Are you excited to be done with high school? You only finish once, you know?" She laughed at what seemed to be her own joke and she rolled her chair over to where they were keeping the caps and gowns.
She came back with the plastic bag that contained my cap and gown. It was a hideous yellow that I was never going to be able to pull off with my complexion. I was suddenly happy that I was going to miss my graduation. "Yeah, and soon I'll be college bound. It's an exciting time really. I actually can't wait to hear Eric's valedictorian speech." I chuckled at the enthusiasm that I put on for Mrs. Cope before leaving the warmth of the front office, and ran back to my car. I was now officially done with my stops.
The parking lot was still quite empty since school didn't start for another forty-five minutes. I hopped back in my car and began driving towards the state line.
The plan was set and was completely in motion, so far so good.
It was just before the state line that I was to meet up with Alice, Fred, Rose and Emmett.
"Are you sure you want to do it this way?" Alice asked me as my last way out. And although I would have much rather Edward be the one to turn me, I was happy I chose Alice. I nodded my head and got out of the car.
"How did you get rid of Edward?" I asked when I saw Rose get into my car and start driving off. Her role was to destroy the car, but not before driving it several states away.
"Esme needed to hunt, and she invited Edward to go with her since Carlisle had a shift at the hospital. Once she turned on the charm, he couldn't resist." She seemed smug at how well we were playing on his weaknesses.
I nodded as I took everything in. Fred was sticking close to all of us in case the wolves were able to smell the scent of my car and lead them to this spot. That way they wouldn't follow the vampires once we left this area and instead keep following the trail that Rosalie led with the car. After that it was going to be doubtful that they'd be able to follow it much further since she was going to drive it into a river. The water would confuse their scent and they wouldn't even be able to tell that a vampire had been in the car. We had to thank Jasper for thinking of that one, but Rose wasn't too happy that her hair was going to get wet. She also didn't want to pass up the opportunity to drive my car.
The rest area we stopped at was pretty deserted. It worked to our favor because it was by the woods, even if it was by the state line. Emmett scooped me up in a bear hug and started running past the trees. I kept my face tucked into his chest to protect me from the wind and the nausea that sometimes accompanied running with vampires.
"Where are we?" I asked once we stopped. I took a look at our surroundings and I noticed we were in a darkened log cabin. There were slightly tattered curtains in the windows and I couldn't see what the scenery looked like beyond them.
"We're at an abandoned Ranger's station, Crater Lake National Park to be exact. Now Bella we don't have enough time. I still have to go to school and act like everything is normal." I tried to remember if there was anything about Crater Lake that I knew about and then I realized that meant we were in Oregon.
"Did you bring the scarf?" I dug into my bag and pulled out the infinity scarf that Alice bought for me a while ago. I had only worn it a few times but Alice insisted I bring it for today.
"Yeah, why do you need it again?" I asked curiously.
"In case Edward smells you on me today, I can say I borrowed your scarf. It's plausible since I bought it for you, that I'd wear it."
I noticed Fred looking around uneasily as if he was on guard for something, and I followed Alice to a table. "Get on and take off your coat." She instructed and I did as I was told. It wasn't completely freezing, but without my coat it was almost unbearable. "Carlisle gave me some morphine; he thinks it'll keep you from feeling the burning of the transformation." I soon felt pricks all over my body where I assumed she pierced me with the needle. My arms, legs, she even got me in my abdomen; throat and finally she stabbed the syringe into my heart. And not long after that I felt her bite me on my wrist, the same spot that James bit me a year earlier. I felt a warm tingling sensation that spread from my wrist and up my arm. I had no idea what was in store for me until the tingling took a different turn and the fire was searing me, from the inside out. And then my eyes closed from the pain.
Edward's POV
"Edward, is it that time already?" Esme asked as she concealed the elk that she drained. Her eyes were back to their golden hue, as were mine I was sure. I sat on a fallen log waiting for her to finish. I was glad that Esme came to me early in the morning at Bella's house and invited me on a hunt. She was right; it had been some time since it was just the two of us. It was a time that I missed and cherished.
"Yes. I have enough time to run home and change before school starts in forty five minutes." I informed her, though there was little need.
We began running through the forest and it took us twenty minutes to run back to the house. Esme told me the others had gone off on their own hunting trip while Rose and Emmett left yesterday for a last minute getaway before having to go to Italy. Emmett was very mentally vocal on what he planned on doing to Rose on their mini vacation. It was weird having three extra vampires in the house with us, though they seemed to be taking to the vegetarian lifestyle rather well; making their eyes a burnt sienna color as the human blood was filtering out of their system.
I ran up the stairs and got into the shower, and took some time washing up. Typical Alice, she managed to lay out the clothes she wanted me to wear to school, and I found them on my bed. Today she chose a light blue dress shirt to wear underneath a dark grey sweater, and dark blue jeans; all of which was Ralph Lauren. Alice mercifully allows me to pick out my own underwear and shoes.
"Hi big brother, ready to go?" Alice was standing by the hood of my car waiting for me to drive her to school.
"Sure. How was your hunt?"
She shrugged and sighed, "Uneventful." I listened out to her thoughts and she was thinking of what to get Bella for graduation. Maybe even throw her a party. Without meaning to, I grimaced at the idea of another party.
"Hey! Edward, no fair! You're not supposed to know!" Alice whined and pouted.
"I'm sorry; I just don't think it's a good idea. You saw how disastrous the last party was." I pointed out.
"Yes but that's not going to happen again. Jasper has learned to control himself a lot better and you aren't going to do something so stupid. Hopefully you learned from your last mistake."
I rolled my eyes at her comment but stayed silent and continued the drive to school. All of the students were running from their cars to the school and when I looked at the clock, I noticed that we were running later than I thought, the first bell had already rung.
"See you at lunch." Alice called out to me and ran at a decent pace to her first period class. I had Spanish first period so I wasn't in any particular rush to get there on time.
The whole day was a blur and I breezed through my first of seven finals. I wasn't going to see Alice or Bella until our lunch period together, and I had no particular reason to pay attention to anything until fifth period.
"Edward?" Mr. Green, our principal pulled me away from whatever thoughts I had and brought me out to the hallway. I tried listening to his thoughts but he was too worried about something that they were incoherent. "These officers would like to speak with you."
I heard the whispers of my fellow classmates as I stepped completely out of the class. To the side I could see Alice standing with them as well. My eyes immediately narrowed and I listened into the thoughts of the two police officers that were confronting us. I immediately recognized them as two deputies that worked with Charlie. They too were worried but what started to strike fear was when the one officer, Andrews, thought of Bella.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"When was the last time you saw and spoke to Isabella Swan?" Andrews asked me.
'Edward, you can't say you talked to her on the phone. They'll check phone records.' Alice quickly thought to me.
"I was supposed to go over there last night but she mentioned she wanted to study alone for her final." I said. There was no way I could admit that I sneak into her room every night.
"And where were the two of you between the hour of six thirty and seven thirty?" The other officer Carlor asked.
"We were home getting ready for school. Has something happened to Bella? What aren't you telling us?" I yelled. I was growing impatient with their questions and no one seemed to want to think about what had happened.
"I'm sorry. Bella's car, one that I'm told that was given to her from your family, was found this morning in the Yellowstone River. It went off the Carter's Bridge to Highway 89 in Wyoming. We're still trying to figure out what happened sir." I backed into the lockers that were lined up against the wall and tuned the rest of their questions out. I didn't even immediately register Alice's voice as she called to me when they had left.
"Alice we have to find her." I kept saying to myself
"We will. She'll be fine."
My world was gone.