Hey Guys...
So I'm super exited to post this story here, because I've been writing and editing this for the past 3 years, and I'm really proud of the way it became.
Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me, only the storyline.
8. START OVER
Lucy had been here for two weeks now and I had learned a lot about her. She was a lot like Emmett in mind. She was always happy and joking. She was very funny and she was always jumping around like a five-year-old energy bomb.
She and Renesmee had become good friends and they played games and watched movies together.
She had decided not to die, so a few days ago Esme, Rosalie, Alice and I had taken her to a realtor and she had sold her house and everything in it – we had cleaned it up. Afterwards she had proved that she was like Rosalie and Alice, and we went shopping. She brought a new wardrobe and we were only back now. In the evening two days later.
Alice had made me buy some clothes for myself and some for Renesmee too. I brought a CD for Edward.
"Momma!" Renesmee shouted the second we walked through the door. She had wanted to come, but we thought it was the best if she stayed home – with the chaos in Lucy's house.
I scanned the room fast and found that Edward wasn't there.
She threw her arms around my waist and pressed her against me. "Did you have fun?" she asked us.
"Sure. It was nice. Very girly. We went shopping and we got something for you." I told her.
Alice found three big bags between the others and handed them to her. She put the other bags against the wall and left with Jasper.
Esme and Carlisle were embracing each other and so were Rosalie and Emmett.
"Where's Edward?" I asked them when I had found the bags that were mine.
Renesmee who was finished looking through her clothes took my hand again. "He had to do something in the cottage." She told me.
We walked to the cottage quickly and the second I saw him I ran to him and threw my arms around him.
Then I saw what he was doing. "What the hell is going on here?" I asked him and looked around in the empty living room of our cottage.
He smiled a sad smile. "We should go back to the main house and talk to everyone about it, but I can tell you one thing. We're moving."
"Moving? What do you mean? Like moving from this cottage or moving from Forks?"
He hesitated. "I went with Carlisle to work, and caught someone talking about him. They wondered how he could always be so young and never change and they started to suspect something about us. So we figured it was time to move." He told me.
I took his hand and passed my thoughts to him. "And you decided it by yourselves because you knew that Rosalie would protest if she had influence on the decision."
He smiled. "Exactly."
I put the bags against the wall and looked at him again. "So where are we going?" I asked him.
"Everyone!" I heard Carlisle voice call from the main house.
"I guess you're about to find out." He said and took my hand. He also took Renesmee's and we walked out the door.
Everyone was there when we arrived so we sat quietly down and looked at Carlisle who was standing up in front of us.
He first told us the story Edward had already told me. I looked at Rosalie and could see her slowly starting to understand.
"What I'm saying is that it's time to move again. We have lived here too long and we can't afford that people starts suspecting things about us."
"What are you saying? That we're about to move?" Rosalie shouted out. "You can't make me go through High School again. I won't do it."
"That's your own decision; you can leave us or come with us. We won't push you into something you won't do, but we are leaving no matter what." He said.
They had practiced this. They knew what she would say and had found an answer before we even came back. Nice move!
"C'mon Rose. It'll be fun. Or, we could make it fun." Emmett said and looked at her with big dog-eyes.
She couldn't resist that and smiled. "Where are we going then?" she asked Carlisle.
He told us a city name I had never heard before. "We thought, since we already have a house there it would be the best place. Which is newly renovated." He told her and smiled at Esme.
"You already have a house there? From when?" I asked without thinking and felt Edward stiffen besides me.
Carlisle hesitated and looked at Edward. "It was when we moved two years ago. We had the house already from when we lived there the first time in the 1920's, so we renovated it." He told me.
I nodded. "So that was where you were when you weren't here?" I whispered and felt my chest starting to hurt just by the thought of that time.
"Everything is ready there so we just have to leave. The semester starts in six days." He told us.
"Then let's leave. Quit your job in a few days and I'll leave now to set things up." Alice said.
"And I could help her. There are a few things we need to do before we can live there. Renesmee doesn't have a room and we have to clean up everything." Esme said.
"If you have to build something I want to help." Emmett said.
In the end it was Alice, Esme and Emmett who were leaving. They would leave tonight and the rest of us should stay here two more days.
"Hey, you guys. Thanks for letting me stay with you for all this time, but I think it's time for me to go home." Lucy said.
"That's your decision alone, but at least stay until we're leaving." Carlisle said.
"Thanks, but I think I'll call my boyfriend and take a cap to his house." She said, smiling to herself.
"You decide, but remember that his scent can be quite a shock for you. Just leave immediately if anything happens. You're still young, you could hurt him."
"I know. I'll behave." She said and laughed
Jasper had to work out the new papers with J. Jenks and I asked him to take me with him.
Carlisle called the High School, and Edward and Renesmee started packing everything we had to take with us.
The next day Lucy was gone. She had taken a cap early in the morning and only left a letter for us where she said thanks for the time with us and promised to call soon.
Jasper and I left right after her.
It was a long way to Seattle and Jasper didn't talk very much.
"So, you're looking forward to starting at the new place." I asked him when neither of us had said anything for about an hour. With his hundred miles an hour we would be there soon.
He laughed. "It's always funny to see how people treat us. Sometimes they just avoid us, other times they try to talk to us, and then after some time figure that we're just weird and then they avoid us," he told me.
"Well that's nice at least. That they avoid us. It was like a nightmare when I started at Forks High School. Everyone wanted to talk to me." I told him.
He laughed and raced off the highway. "Yeah, I remember. We thought it was hilarious. You didn't at all seem to listen, but they kept talking to you."
He turned down a road and parked outside the house where J had his office. We both got out and opened the door inside.
Behind the desk was the same blond woman as the last time I was here.
"Hello," April greeted us with a smile. "How can I help you?"
Jasper stood as long away from the desk as he could without being rude. "We have an appointment with Mr. Scott." He told her.
"Mr. Hale? He's expecting you." She told us and got to her feet. She led us down the short hall and opened the door for us.
J was already standing up and shook Jasper's hand the second we got in, and kissed the top of mine.
"What a delight surprise. Mr. Jasper and Bella together." He said. "Why don't you sit down?"
We sat down while he walked to the other side of the table and sat down in his own chair.
"Like I told you on the phone, we are in quite a hurry and we'll need the documents in four days. I know it's a tough order, but I'll give you twice as much now and twice as much when we get them." Jasper explained.
"Well of course. Is it the same documents, names, and ages, and of course this lovely Bella?" J asked.
"It is seventeen and Bella Swan." Jasper said shortly and J wrote it down on the legal pad. Jasper continued with the rest of my information, knowing every single thing.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out an envelope. "Here are the pictures." He said. "There are names on the back."
J looked at the back of the pictures until he found the picture of a smiling Alice. "It's a very beautiful wife you have." He told Jasper. He had probably wanted to give Jasper that compliment since the first time they met.
"Thank you very much." Jasper said and pulled and envelope more out of his pocket. "This is twice the amount."
J accepted them and looked into it. "This it more than enough, I can't accept this much money." He said.
"Just take them." Jasper said and rose up. He shook hands with J over the table.
"Always a pleasure working with you," J said and shook my hand too.
We said goodbye and left Seattle in hundred-and-ten miles an hour.
The new house looked great. It had four cottages, one for Carlisle and Esme, one for Alice and Jasper, one for Rosalie and Emmett, and one for Renesmee, Edward and me.
In the main house there was a big kitchen and a big dining room/living room, and of course a bathroom and an entrance.
The walls everywhere were white and in Alice and Jaspers room Alice had sprayed them with golden glitter so it shimmered in the sunlight like our skin.
Their room was held in a golden theme and looked very Indian.
Rosalie and Emmett's room was built the same way as Alice and Jasper's, it was just held in a white theme instead of golden.
Esme and Carlisle's looked a lot like Rosalie and Emmett's, kept in simple white furniture.
Edward's, Renesmee's, and mine looked a lot like the one in Forks. It had the same fairytale theme.
Today we would start in school again. It was the first time I had to be around that many people since becoming a vampire and I was afraid of what could happen.
Edward left the bed to take a shower. I could hear him turn on the water and I left the bed to.
I walked into the bathroom and entered the shower after him.
He was standing – beautiful as he was – with his hands against the wall, the water streaming into his face.
I wrapped my arms around his naked waist and leaned my head against his back.
He slowly turned around and looked at me, his eyes topaz from yesterday's hunting trip and his cheeks lightly blushed. "You're exited?" he asked me and put his arms around me. He stroked a wet hair away from my forehead.
"Yeah, I actually am, but I'm not looking forward to learning it all again." I told him and laughed.
He laughed too. "It's actually not that bad. Of course it gets more boring as the years go by, but the second time is not that bad. You'll catch up on all the things you missed the first time."
I nodded and leaned against his bare chest. "How many times have you been in high school?" I asked him curious.
"Well, we started going eight and a half years after Emmett joined us. We lived there for nine years – that was actually in Forks. Then Alice and Jasper joined us. Jasper was so wild that we couldn't take that chance with him. We moved to a new place and lived there until Jasper was safe enough. Then we moved and started again. Then three times after that and then Forks again." He told me.
"That's crazy. Hasn't it been boring the last times?" I asked him and kissed the hollow between his collarbones.
"It was boring before I met you. After that nothing's boring." He said and laughed.
I heard someone knock on the door to our cottage. "There's a meeting in the kitchen in ten minutes. Put some clothes on and be there." I heard Alice's voice order.
"I guess that's our cue," Edward said and turned off the water. He stepped out the shower and grabbed two big towels and handed the one to me.
He dried his hair quickly and went back into the room to put on some clothes.
I dried my hair and quickly ran a brush through it. I wrapped the towel around me and went to our big dresser – Alice's compromise for the missing closet.
I found a pair of dark gray jeans and a green top. I pulled an invisible white sweater over it and finished off with my much worn flats – just to irritate Alice.
Edward had put on a pair of black jeans and a blue shirt with the sleeves folded up. He ran his fingers thought his hair and then he was done.
He smiled at me and pulled me into his arms. "Should we wake up Nessie before we go? She might want to sleep; it was a long day yesterday." He said and kissed my throat from collarbone to the hollow below my ear.
"I think we should. She would want to say goodbye, and so will I." I said and took his hand.
We opened the door to her room and walked inside.
Esme and Alice had made her draw everything she could think of so they could put the drawings onto the walls.
There was a lot of the family. All of us laughing in the old living room, Emmett and Jasper playing ball, some of the house, of Edward and me, and ones with herself as well.
The most beautiful picture was one she had drawn of herself, Edward and me. She had used very few colors and the result was a master peace – a painting no one could think was made of a little six-year-old girl.
On the painting Edward and I was sitting on both sides of her, with our arms around her, and we were all laughing. It looked so much like a photo.
"Good morning, sweetie." Edward and I said together.
She turned around and slowly opened her eyes. Her bronze hair was lying wildly around her face.
"Good morning." She said and sat up. She looked at us with her chocolate brown eyes. "Are you going to school today?"
"Yes, and you're going to be home with Esme. And you can take a swim in the river." I said and stroked her hair away from her face.
"Yeah. But I can say goodbye to you, right?" she asked in a tired voice.
"Of course you can, just promise me you'll sleep more afterwards." Edward said.
"Sure." She said and jumped off her bed. She walked her dresser and found a red T-shirt and a pair of jeans. She put it on and found her sneakers. She made a high ponytail and walked back to us.
"I'm ready." She said and pirouetted. Then she took each of our hands and we walked out her room. We walked through Edward's and my room and through the little living room.
When we walked outside I could smell the animals in the woods.
Renesmee could too. She looked into the wood, her eyes searching between the trees.
We walked up the terrace and inside.
They were all here, sitting by the big dining room table at the left side of the big living room.
Renesmee let go of our hands and ran into Alice's open arms. She took a round and said good morning to everyone.
Edward and I sat down at the table and Renesmee sat down in my lab when she finished hugging Rosalie.
Carlisle stood up from his chair. "You all know what to do, just be yourself," he told us.
Esme looked proudly around at all of us. "And have a good time, don't forget that." She said and smiled.
We all rose up and went out to the cars. Edward and I would drive in the Volvo because we had to be the most low-key we could, and my Ferrari or his Ashton Martin didn't really fit into that category. Jasper and Emmett drove in the jeep, and Rosalie and Alice in Rosalie's M3.
I started feeling nervous. I lifted Renesmee up into my arms and hugged her to my chest. "We'll be back in a few hours, okay?" I said.
She nodded, gave me a kiss on the cheek and reached out for Edward.
He walked to us and lifted her out of my arms and into his own.
They hugged each other shortly and Edward sat her down again.
We got into the car and she waved after us.
About five minutes later he pulled into a big lot and turned off the engine. He didn't open the door; he leaned against me and touched my lips with his. His lips moved gently and soft against mine.
He pulled away and got out. He opened the door for me and helped me out like the gentleman he was.
I could smell the people around me.
'I have to be strong' I told myself.
Edward felt my nerves and took my hand. He squeezed it lightly and we walked to the others.
Emmett jumped out of the big jeep and everyone on the lot looked at him as he did, and then at the rest of us.
Alice and Jasper came back and gave each of us our schedule; Edward and I had all classes together, like we had asked for.
Alice jumped up and down and ran into my arms. "Aren't you exited?" she asked me.
"I am, actually, looking past the fact that this is my second time in high school." I told her.
Emmett laughed and said, "Yeah it's kinda' weird, huh?"
I laughed as well and nodded. I took a deep breath as we walked through the doors.
At first we found our lockers, mine was number sixty-nine, right next to Edward's.
"Okay, first period starts in five minutes, the lunch break is after third period, and there is a five-minute break between the other periods. We all get out at two-ten." Alice asked us.
I looked at the papers in Edward's hand; our first class was history.
The steps in front of the big front door were packed with people, talking and tanning in the early autumn sun that wasn't there.
Outside the school looked like any other. It was big, with creamy-gray walls, dark brown windows and a dark roof. It had some separate buildings in the back and the quad in the middle was filled with tables, benches and people. Inside the walls were painted white and the lockers in front were black.
I heard a bell ring and first period had begun.
Edward and I separated from the others and walked to one of the separate buildings.
The teacher was already there. It was a man in the fifties with gray hair. "Welcome to the class, you're Edward Cullen and Bella Swan, I presume?" The teacher asked us.
"Correct." Edward said and smiled at the teacher with his best 'good-boy' smile.
"I'm James Wright, and I'll be teaching this class." James said. "Do you want to sit together or apart?"
Without thinking we both answered, "Together."
He nodded and pointed at a table in the back of the class.
James started talking, and I noticed bits of things I had heard in my first part of junior year, before moving to Forks.
After class Edward and I walked outside and back towards the front door, then turned left somewhere on the way.
I had no idea how he managed to find his way around in the halls, but somehow he did and I was thankful for not arriving late and having people staring at us even more than they already did.
When the bell rang we entered our next class, Biology, the place where we had first met.
The teacher was a woman in her thirty's with blond hair in a high ponytail. "Hi. Welcome to the class. I'm Laura Green. You must be Edward Cullen and Bella Swan?" she said with a very pitched voice.
"We are." I told her. She wrote noted something on a piece of paper and then looked at us again.
"Are you brother and sister? Your surnames are different." She said.
Edward could answer that; he had many years of practice in lying. "No, we're not brother and sister, we are – engaged." He told her and I suddenly felt like every person in the room was staring at us.
I took a little step closer to Edward and smiled at him, feeling slightly uncomfortable.
She looked shocked somehow. "Oh, well congratulations!" she said and shook our hands. "You can sit at that table."
She pointed at a table in the back and we walked down there.
Again I head bits of things I remembered and I even answered some questions this time.
"I miss Renesmee." I whispered in Edward's ear after listening to his clever answer to a question.
He looked at me with his golden eyes and smiled. "I know. I miss her too." He whispered back. He leaned his head against me and pressed his soft lips against my forehead.
"The car in the lunch-break." He whispered as soft and quiet as a breath, but still sounding very seductive.
"I'll be there." I told him, smiling widely as I looked back at the teacher and waited for class to end.
When class was finally over everyone stormed out and we followed, stopping right outside of class where Edward pushed me lightly against the wall and kissed me.
"Edward, can I talk to you – alone?"
We turned around to find Laura standing in the doorway, looking slightly uncomfortable.
Edward kissed my forehead quickly and went after her into the class again.
I walked slowly to the next class in the hope that Edward would catch up on me, but he didn't. I stood in front of the door to the Math class and exhaled before opening the door. Some of the students from our other classes were here and some I hadn't seen before as well.
The teacher standing before me was a man in his fifties with long dark hair in a ponytail.
I walked to the place in front of his desk, taking a deep breath. "Hi," I said hesitantly.
He looked up at me, and so did several of the boys in class too. "You must be Bella Swan, the new student." He said after looking at my name on the paper. "I'm Mr. Moor."
"Yes, I'm Bella." I told him and looked at the door.
He registered me as present on the student list and gave me my stuff. The he pointed to a place by a table next to a blond boy in a letterman jacket.
I sat down and looked at the door. I touched the diamante stone on my wrist. The stone Edward had given me as a reminder of him, so he would always be on my mind – like he could ever leave.
The door was slowly opened and he walked in. I could feel his presence fill my heart as he smiled at me.
"Hello." Edward said and all the girls looked at him. His voice was delicious and his face glories, but did they have to stare at him like that. He was a married man for crying out loud!
The teacher looked up at him and smiled. "Hello. I'm Mr. Moor." The teacher told us. "You must be Edward Cullen."
"I am." Edward said.
"You can sit in the back next to Andy." Mr. Moor said and pointed to a boy in the back.
When I saw Edward go to the back of the room I felt like a part of me screamed. Even though he was sitting less than ten feet from me, the distance was big in my heart and without his presence I was empty. I looked over my shoulder and met his gaze.
He smiled at me and I resisted the thought of jumping off my chair and into his arms.
"Hey. I'm Nathan." The voice next to me said.
I turned slowly away from Edward's gaze and looked at the blond boy beside me.
His fair hair was curling around his ears and his blue eyes stared into mine, forcing me to look at him.
"Hi." I told him and smiled.
Behind me I could hear Edward start a conversation with Andy about cars.
When class officially started, the teacher gave us a briefcase with assignments and told us to solve as many as we could in the class.
I started with the first one and it was easy made, then I continued to the others.
"So, do you like the school?" Nathan asked me after some time. "I know you just started and all, but just until now?"
"It's okay." I just told him, not liking the way his eyes seemed to control mine.
"Okay." He said. "You know, it's the lunch break after this class, so if you want I could show you where everything is." He smiled a crocked smile.
"No thank you." I told him. I could see in his reaction that he wasn't used to getting a no from girls.
"Okay." He just said again. "Well, my parents are gone this weekend and I'm throwing a party. Would you like to be my date?"
"No. I won't." I told him and laughed, trying really hard not to look at Edward. But I knew what his face would look like. It would look sort of empty as he would sort through Nathan's head.
"Why not?" He asked, his smile disappearing from his lips.
I leaned back in my sear, putting my pencil down. "Because I have a boyfriend," I told him, but I didn't really think it was enough, so I added, "And I would never go out with someone like you."
He laughed one loud quick laugh. "Someone like me? Is that supposed to be an insult? Because I don't really see that," he said and leaned against me. "You know, deep down all guys are the same, we all want the same."
I leaned in as well, trying to intimidate him, disappointed when I didn't. "I don't know what game you think you're playing, but don't play it with me. I would never leave my boyfriend, and you would waste your time."
He crooked one eyebrow. "I always get what I want."
Then the bell rang and Nathan sent me a smile before packing his thing and leaving.
Edward joined me when everyone else was out. He looked mad.
"I'm so sorry," I told him and took a step closer to him, placing my hand on his chest.
He smiled. "Why are you apologizing? You're not the jerk, he is." He said and pulled me into a hug. When he pulled back his expression had changed into something a bit sexier. "You're up for a little ride?"
I smiled back. "Of course," I told him and rose onto my toes to kiss him.
Edward pulled me after him to the car and I hurried into the driver's seat.
I started the engine and drove out of the lot.
We were only a few blocks away from school when he spoke. "Park in there." He nodded towards a little parking space next to the road.
I did as he told me and turned the engine off.
The same second I did that, he had pulled my face to his and was kissing me. He broke the kiss to lift me off the driver's seat and sat me down in his lab. He turned me around and pulled my head back to his.
The kiss became deeper and I put my hands into his hair, feeling the soft hair against my fingers, tickling when it touched my face.
He somehow moved he leg weirdly and it smashed into the glove compartment with a bang. "Stupid car," He murmured and pulled my face back to his.
The same thing happened again, but this time it broke off, falling to the bottom of the car.
Edward hissed lightly and lifted me back to the driver's seat again. Then he noticed the silver box on the floor of the car. "What is it?" he asked and looked at me.
"I brought it months ago. As a birthday present for you, but you never told me when that was, so I guess you can just open it now." I told him and smiled.
He took it and unwrapped the paper around it. When he saw the little black velvet box he looked at me again. He opened the box and looked at the necklace inside.
It was a leather strap with two silver sheets. On the first were our names on the front and our wedding date on the back. On the other were Renesmee's name on the front and birthday on the back.
He took it out of the box and studied it well.
"If…" I didn't get to say more before his lips stopped me. I took the necklace from his hand and locked it around his neck. Then he pulled away.
"Thank you." He told me.
"You're sure you like it?" I asked him and took his hand.
He smiled at me. "Of course. Who wouldn't?" he asked and kissed my lips lightly.
"I don't know, but I want you to like it and not everyone else." I told him.
"I love it, but I do love you more." He told me and stroked my cheek.
"I love you too." I told him and kissed him again.
He kissed me back, but shortly after he pulled away. He put his hand in his jeans pocket and pulled out a little black box.
"I have something for you too." He told me and handed me the box.
I took it and looked up at him. "You shouldn't have." I told him and opened the box.
"Maybe not, but I wanted to." He told me and nodded for me to look.
I did.
Inside the box was a silver ring. In the middle of it was a big diamante. And all the way around the ring were diamantes as well.
"Wow. It's so beautiful." I said and looked up at him.
He smiled and took the ring from the box. He took my hand and slid it into place on my left hand. It fit perfectly.
"Thank you so much." I pulled his face down to mine and kissed him.
He pulled away too soon. "We should probably get back. The next class is in ten minutes." He said and leaned back into the passenger seat. He ran his hand through his hair and I stared at him for a second before I started the engine.
We drove back in silence and I caught myself looking at the ring on my finger.
When I pulled into the lot the first thing I saw was Alice.
She was leaning against Rosalie's M3 and was looking – smiling – at me when I parked next to her. "I want to see it!" She screamed before I was even out of the car. "Oh my god. I want one too." She said when I showed her.
"Hey babe!"
I looked over Alice's shoulder and saw the top of some blonde hair. As the person got closer to me I could see the face. Nathan.
"I'm not your babe, and I never will be." I said and took Edward's hand.
"You don't know about that yet. You first know that when you let go of that Paley there –" He nodded at Edward. "– and try something with me." He said and took a step closer to me, but Alice walked in front of him.
"Hi, I don't think I know you? I'm Alice, Edward's sister" she said and reached out to shake his hand.
He took it and shook it weirdly, his eyes still on me. He tried to walk around her, but she kept standing in his way.
"Give up the game boy. You won't ever win this one. No matter how hard you try to impress her." Alice said and walked away.
Nathan looked after her, but looked back at me again. "So, what are you doing tonight?" he asked me, like Edward wasn't there at all. He was so desperate.
"I'm with Edward tonight." I told him and saw his face twist a bit.
"What about tomorrow night then?"
Edward stepped out from behind me. "She's with me. Actually, there's not a day that she won't be with me." Edward said and pulled me after him as he walked away.
"You know, that doesn't stop me, Cullen. No matter how much you fight for her, I'll be fighting twice as hard!" Nathan called after us.
The words sounded familiar and I realized that those were the exact words Jacob had said when he and Edward were fighting over me.
Edward laced his fingers through mine and we walked to class like we hadn't heard him.
"That sounds familiar, too familiar." Edward said and hissed under his breath.
I pulled him to stop. "I'm so sorry," I told him and stroked his cheek.
"Don't apologize, at least Jacob worshipped you and loved you. That guy's just a collector."
"Don't worry about him. My love for you will never fade, we'll always be together and I'll always love you." I told him and pulled his head down to mine as I rose to my toes.
Our lips touched and I shaped my body into his, putting my arms around his neck.
He laughed against my lips and pulled away. "To bad we're surrounded by kids." He said and kissed me again. His lips moved gently and passionately against mine.
I heard the bell ring and he pulled away.
"Hey, I wasn't done kissing you." I said and pulled his face down to mine again.
He laughed against my lips and pulled away again. He looked into my eyes. "How can you still want me like this after all that we've been through?" he asked me.
"You made it easy." I told him and took his hand.
And together we walked to class.