Sundays was Jessica's only real day-off. She had classes and rehearsals on the weekdays. She had rehearsals for most of Saturday. Sunday was the one day a week she could allow herself to not have to do anything but eat cereal around her house and not see Edward Cullen's stupid face.

Charlie would come over for breakfast once or twice a month. Sometimes he'd bring something from the bakery with him. When Joan was too tired to cook, they'd go out to have breakfast. It was a simple routine they've had the past few years.

This hadn't changed much since Bella moved to Forks except Charlie would bring her with him. After Bella broke her leg, Joan started making meals for the Swans since Charlie couldn't even boil noodles to make spaghetti and Bella couldn't stay on her feet for too long without being a hazard to herself. Sunday breakfasts were temporarily moved to the Swan residence.

On one particular Sunday, the doorbell rang as they were about to eat breakfast. Joan was almost done with the waffles and Charlie was busy answering the weekly crossword. And it would take Bella too long to get up with her leg so Jessica went to answer the door.

She froze when she saw who was on the other side of the door. "You."

Edward Cullen didn't even blink. "Good morning, Jessica."

"It's Sunday."

Which meant she wasn't supposed to see his pasty vampire self until tomorrow.

He nodded. "Yes."

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to spend time with Bella."

Jessica looked behind her towards the kitchen then turned back to Edward. "It's family time. Come back another day."

"Who's at the door, Jessica?" her mother called out.

"Nobody!" Jessica replied. "It's just the mailman."

"But we don't get mail on Sundays," Charlie pointed out.

Jessica could hear them moving from the kitchen and she moved to shut the front door. Edward kept her from closing the door with one hand and his crazy, strong vampire strength. Jessica pushed at the door but it wouldn't move an inch as if it had turned into stone. She let out an annoyed grunt.

Her mother had left the kitchen and saw her daughter trying to shut the door on some random boy. "What are you doing?"

Edward moved the door backwards, forcing Jessica to take a few step back to avoid getting hit in the face with the door. "Hello. I'm Edward Cullen. I'm a…friend of Bella Swan."

Bella had limped her way from the kitchen. "I invited him over."

Joan gave Jessica a confused look before smiling at Edward. "Hello. I'm Jessica's mom. Will you be joining us for breakfast?"

Edward stepped into the house and Jessica glared at his profile. "I would love too, Mrs. Stanley."

Jessica stabbed into her waffles, annoyed that she had to sit across from Edward and see him stare at Bella like she would melt. He didn't seem aware how creepy he looked to everyone else. Charlie looked concerned at this strange boy his daughter had invited over. Jessica had to bite her tongue not to tell him what she knew about Edward Cullen.

Jessica stared into her plate and remembered Alice's warning about the future that would happen if she told anyone about the vampire secret. Knowing and having to keep quiet about everything was exhausting. She just wanted a quiet Sunday. Why couldn't she have that?

Oh right. Edward and Bella were co-dependent lovesick idiots.

Joan tried to talk away the tension in the kitchen. "Where are you originally from, Edward?"

"Chicago originally," he answered, finally looking away from Bella. "But I've moved here and there."

Joan nodded. "I moved around a lot when I was younger too for my Dad's job. I spent some time in Chicago. Do you miss it there?"

Edward looked contemplative before answering, "Sometimes."

"I remember when we first moved here from Maine, we all felt so homesick. All of our family and friends were in Portland," Joan explained. "Jessica was scared she wouldn't make any friends here."

"Mom," Jessica said, embarrassed and wanting her to stop talking.

"It's not easy being the new kid but Jess adjusted." Joan smiled. "And I'm glad you've adjusted too, Bella."

Bella looked away from Edward as if snapping out of a daze. "Hmm?"

"She said that she's glad you've adjusted to moving here," Edward told her.

"Right." Bella blinked. "I'm, uh, glad I moved here too."

She turned back to staring at Edward and the two seemed lost in their own world again. Jessica took a bite of her food, needing her mouth full so she didn't end up spilling out all the secrets she had to keep.

Jessica couldn't get out of there fast enough. After breakfast and her Mom loaded up the Swans' fridge with meals, they went home where Jessica could escape the staring contest Bella and Edward were doing. It was her day-off and she was determined to enjoy the rest of it even if her morning was intruded on.

She decided she was updating her vision board that day. She had started one since she was thirteen and realized what career she wanted to have. Her parents had gotten her a giant corkboard one Christmas and she had filled it with the life she wanted to have. Most of it had to do with Stanford with photos of the campus, the school logo, and even a sticker of the Stanford Tree mascot.

Her vision board was all about academics and the future. There was no room for other things like relationships. It would just distract her from her goals. And she could date later when she had achieved something.

Girls didn't get into their dream colleges by getting distracted and going on dates. Sacrifices had to be made. Besides, it wasn't like there were a ton of boys knocking on her door wanting to have breakfast with her and swallowing down her Mom's waffles with a martyred look on his face. She didn't need any of that.

Still, she couldn't get the thought of how clinical her vision board looked to her. She moved some pictures to make room for a little corner. Grabbing a post-it note and a pen, she wrote down what she would want in a relationship.

Perfect Guy:

Kind

Smart (Likes science?)

Crazy about her

Good things came in three. No need to add anything else to that. She pinned the post-it to the corkboard and stepped back to look at her vision board. The neon pink post-it note looked almost out of place.

"I'm being ridiculous," Jessica said aloud as if the vision board would speak and agree with her.

She didn't take down the post-it note.

Thanksgiving was a small affair. Ever since Jessica's Dad died, they didn't bother making the trip to Maine every year to see their relatives. As much as Jessica missed seeing her grandparents, the long drive to and back from Portland was too much. And plane tickets tended to be more expensive around the holiday.

Jessica and her Mom would prepare a small dinner for themselves. They started having turkey again after Charlie joined them. Bella wanted to help make dinner but her leg still kept her confined to the couch. The brunette relented and just read her copy of Wuthering Heights.

Joan had asked Bella of any Thanksgiving food she wanted for herself but Bella had explained that she and Renee used to just order in food so she wasn't partial to anything.

Dinner was a pleasant affair with Joan doing most of the talking as Charlie nodded or grunted at the appropriate times.

"How's the play going?" Joan asked.

"Fine," Jessica answered. "We're on schedule."

Once the costumes were done, Alice had taken over as stage manager and ruled them all with a cheery, iron fist. They would be ready by opening night or else.

Bella was staring sullenly at her food.

Joan noticed and asked, "Any chance your leg will heal by then, dear?"

Bella shook her head. "My cast won't be coming off until after Christmas so I don't get to be Juliet not even once."

Joan reached over and patted Bella's hand. "There's always next year."

Jessica bit back a groan, imagining having to do another play next year. Emmett, Rosalie, and Jasper would've graduated by then but Edward and Alice would still be around. She didn't know if Alice would hoodwink her into being in a play again. Hopefully, the Cullens would finally give up on wanting her to become one of them.

"Jess, who's going to be Romeo?" her mom asked.

"Edward," she replied. "Mike's the understudy."

"The same Edward we met last week?"

Jessica nodded. "Unfortunately," she muttered under breath.

"It should be an interesting opening night," Joan remarked. "Right, Charlie?"

Charlie let out a grunt like he was deep in thought. He could also just be thinking about the turkey. Jessica could never tell with him.

At this point, Jessica wasn't looking for secrets. She was perfectly happy to live in blissful ignorance. The universe didn't seem to get the message and decided to give her one last life-altering revelation.

Jessica's life refused to be boring. She missed when it was boring.

It was Monday morning and she was carpooling with Lauren when the blonde nearly ran over a bear that was crossing the road. Except it wasn't a bear. The large beast looked straight at them and Jessica realized it was a giant brown wolf.

The wolf's brown eyes were wide in shock. Like a deer, it seemed frozen and unable to move.

Jessica sat there in the front seat, trying to process what she was seeing.

Lauren pressed into the car horn, the loud sound snapping the wolf into moving. It ran away on paws that looked too big for its body. Jessica watched it disappear into the woods. Lauren started the car and was driving them away.

"What was that?" Jessica asked when she regained her ability to speak. "That was a–"

"Bear. We have a few around the area," Lauren told her, briskly. "It's nothing to worry about."

"That was not a bear, Lauren!"

Lauren looked at her with narrowed hazel eyes and insisted, "It was a bear. There's no need to freak out about it."

"For the last time, that was not a bear," Jessica countered. "That was an overgrown mutant wolf. And I don't see how you're so calm about it."

"Mutant wolves don't exist."

"What do you call a wolf that size then?"

Lauren didn't answer. The blonde kept her gaze on the road, her hands clutching the stirring wheel tightly.

Jessica remembered Alice mentioning about having werewolves in La Push. What had Alice called them?

"Skin-walkers," Jessica said, remembering that Alice had told her she couldn't see their futures for some reason. "That was a werewolf."

"Don't be ridiculous–"

"I am not being ridiculous. They're real."

Lauren raised a disbelieving eyebrow at her. "And how are you so sure about that?"

Jessica realized why Lauren was so calm about all of this. While her friend was known for her icy disposition, Jessica knew Lauren was less composed internally than she appeared.

"You know they exist," Jessica pointed out. "And you know I'm not being ridiculous because you totally know they're real."

Lauren didn't say anything.

One of the advantages of being friends with somebody for years was that Jessica knew Lauren's one tell.

The blonde's fingers tapped on the stirring wheel.

"I knew it!" Jessica exclaimed. "Werewolves are real and you know about them!"

"Shut it," Lauren hissed.

"There's no one around to hear. Just admit it, Lauren."

"I'm not admitting to anything."

"You're being extra cagey about this so it's probably personal to you–"

"Jessica–"

"–so that means you know one and you're trying to protect them."

Lauren stopped the car abruptly. Jessica would've hit her nose on the dashboard if it wasn't for the seatbelt.

"Oh my God. Just shut up!" Lauren covered her face with her hands in frustration. "Why can't you just leave something alone?"

"Because I know I'm right and you're keeping secrets from me," Jessica replied. "And friends don't keep secrets from each other, right?"

Lauren lowered her hands from her face so she could glare at Jessica. "Really? Then why haven't you told me about the vampires you've been hanging out with?"

Jessica stilled, feeling like that giant wolf on the road from earlier.

To put it simply, she was fucked.