A/N:Merry Christmas, everyone! I actually intended to upload a couple of days earlier, but all the Christmas-madness kept me from uploading.
Now I've finally finished the chapter and was so impatient that I had upload the chapter as soon as possible. Which means that it's not betaed. So I apologize for any weird mistakes that might appear.
Go on and read, I'll be rambling more at the bottom.
Bella Pov
"You have three more minutes," Ms. Sanders announced, while she strolled around the classroom looking at the work of some students.
I hastily looked into my potions book, while stirring the mass in the little kettle in front of me.
At last, add three drops of gnome saliva and stir the potion counter-clockwise until your potion turns dark purple.
After that, you let it rest for three hours.
Completed is your plant-revival potion!
I followed the instructions and smiled in satisfaction when the liquid in my kettle took on a beautiful dark purple color.
I carefully filled the potion into a little jar and then started to clean up my working space.
"Alright, time's up," Ms. Sanders announced, earning a few groans from my fellow classmates, "Fill your potions into the jars and start cleaning up."
She stood now at the front of the class again, eying everyone carefully and once everyone had their potions filled into their jars, she made a motion with her wand that sent all the jars flying up to her desk where they settled down quietly.
"Class dismissed," she called out and I hastily put away my kettle before I walked out of the classroom.
I merely stepped out of the room when an arm suddenly landed on my shoulder.
I looked up and looked straight into the twinkling eyes of Emmett.
"How was your potion exam?" he asked me cheerfully. I wondered where his sudden cheerfulness came from.
"It went quite well, actually. The practical part more than the theoretical," I answered.
I thought back to the theoretical part of the exam and made a face. I was pretty sure that I had gotten some answers wrong.
"No need to worry about petty little things," Emmett said," I'm sure you aced it, knowing what kind of genius you are."
All that left my mouth was a sigh.
"What's with the attitude? You should be happy and rejoicing."
"And why is that? Exams are not really a reason for me to start dancing senselessly in the hallways of the school."
"That's not what I meant. Jasper's out of the hospital and you are not looking as if you were happy about these news," Emmett clarified, shaking his head at me.
"Jasper is out of the hospital?" I asked in disbelief.
"That's what I just said."
I punched Emmett on his arm.
"Why didn't you say so right away?"
"I thought that you already knew." Emmett pouted while he rubbed the spot where I had hit him.
I rolled my eyes at him and took him by his arm to get him to move a bit faster.
"Jasper!" I exclaimed as soon as I burst into his room.
It took me a second to realize that everyone else was already there. Rose and Alice were both sitting beside him on his bed, looking at me disapprovingly.
"Don't be so loud, Bella!" Rose scolded,"Jasper's still not feeling too well."
Jasper shook his head slightly at his sister but didn't say anything. He just sunk back into his pillows.
"Sorry," I apologized quickly, before I crossed the room and knelt down beside Jasper's bed. "How are you feeling?"
Jasper closed his eyes briefly before he answered,"I'm alright. My headache is not gone yet and I still feel overwhelmed but other than that I'm okay."
He rubbed his temples and gave me a reassuring look.
I looked down at my hands.
"I'm really sorry, Jasper," I whispered, hoping that no one apart from him could hear me.
"What the hell are you sorry for?" Rose demanded, looking sharply at me. Apparently I hadn't been quiet enough.
Not looking back at her, I mumbled, "Nothing."
"Bella, you better not be apologizing for causing this situation for Jasper," Alice interfered,"Because there is nothing for you to apologize for."
My gaze met Chris' who looked down a few seconds later, not saying anything to me.
The guilt that she felt for causing Jasper this pain was quite similar to mine.
"The two of you shouldn't blame yourselves," Edward said, earning agreeing hums from Alice and Rose. "You can't control things like that- it was bound to happen anyway..."
I stopped listening to Edward- not because what he was saying was not interesting but because Jasper spoke quietly now as well, so quiet that the others couldn't hear him.
"You know, I had been feeling off for a little while before. It wasn't anything major so I didn't say anything and just discarded it. You and Chris haven't done anything, so you shouldn't feel bad. I had just been trying to keep up with your emotions and tried to help both of you that I unwillingly had to open myself up to everything else. And that threw me totally of balance. I can't even begin to explain to you how truly unsettling it is to have millions of emotions running through you and affecting you."
Jasper shuddered slightly before he put his hand on my shoulder and spoke a bit louder so the others now noted that he was talking.
"What I'm basically saying is, that it really wasn't your fault."
I looked straight at Chris, who's expression showed that she had been listening to Jasper's words. Meanwhile, the rest of the group tried to find out Jasper had just said, but he was too tired to recount it all or maybe he was just pretending.
"Hey Jazz," Chris spoke up quietly in the general noise that was still going on. How Jasper was supposed to recover with this bunch of people around was a miracle.
Jasper opened one eye to look at Chris.
"How did you exactly did you recover?"
Now Jasper opened the other eye as well and sat up again.
"Mr. Decour helped me understand my gift," he explained.
"How did he do that?"
"At first, he was just analyzing my gift telling me what exactly I could do with it and how to work it, but that didn't really help me, because he kept telling me that I need to embrace all of those emotions that were just forcing their way into my head.
"So after a few attempts to talk me through it, he did something I'm not quite sure I understand. I remember that suddenly every feeling, emotion or mood that I had to endure was there in stereo.
It was truly head splitting can't remember much from that little time period, I might have passed out."
Alice sniffed and grabbed a hold of Jasper's hand.
"Anyway, after quite some time the force had lessened again and I was back to my earlier status. Except that between all this madness, there was an entirely new emotion in it.
It wasn't even an emotion- more like a state of being or something.
Like utter peacefulness but yet combined with every emotion the world had to offer.
I concentrated on that to figure out what that was about and then realized that it came from Mr. Decour.
"He told me that I only had to embrace all those emotions and had to let them in and not fight them.
He said that once I just let go it would be less painful. He instructed me to concentrate on him if it got too much for me and said that my goal should be to reach the same state of peacefulness that he had reached.
It must have taken me hours to finally get this mess in my head in some kind of order and when I did, Mr. Decour left me alone and the source of the peacefulness vanished.
"Since I didn't want to loose that feeling I worked really hard on controlling my gift and tried to embrace every feeling that I got instead of trying to keep it away and at some point it just clicked and I had this inner peace mixed with everything that is going on around me.
I can't really switch my power off anymore, it's now a constant thing."
Jasper finished his tale with a sigh.
"Oh Jazzy, I'm so sorry that you had to go through all that," Alice cried and threw herself on Jasper to hug him tightly.
"Alice, let him breath," Edward commented with a sigh.
Alice reluctantly let go of Jasper, who looked thankful for the first time ever to be released from Alice's grip. He must really not be feeling to well.
"Maybe we should all go and let Jasper rest," I proposed.
"But I don't wanna go," Alice pouted.
"You can stay and help me studying," Jasper told her, although he didn't really look like he was up for it. He sunk back into his pillows with his eyes already closing.
Alice noticed that of course as well, and smiled fondly at him.
"No, I should let you rest for now. But you just have to call my name in case you need something."
Jasper nodded weakly and our collected group moved out of his room.
"Alright, Rose and I are off to the library now," Chris announced as soon as we closed the door behind us.
"Why me?" Rose asked in protest.
"Didn't you read your schedule for this week, honey? You and I have to write our physics exam tomorrow," Chris explained, looking at her as if she had grown a second head.
"Oh, right."
"I'm coming with you guys," I threw in.
"You're not writing Physic tomorrow," Chris noted.
"No, but history and biology. And Edward is not gonna help me with those, right?"
I turned to Edward, already knowing the answer.
Edward smile apologetically. "Sorry, I have to practice for Magical Art and Specialized Magic."
"Oh no," Alice exclaimed," I have my Specialized Magic exam tomorrow as well."
"Well, let's go and study then," Emmett called out.
Everyone agreed and we all hurried to get going.
The next day started with an unexpected surprise.
I was already sitting at the breakfast table, when Chris ran through the Cafeteria, attracting quite a few weird glances.
"Look at this," she panted once she was at the table.
She threw a paper on the table and worked on catching her breath.
I picked up the paper and read through it.
Dear students,
we- the IDM- have made some decisions in regard of your stay at the Academy for the remainder of the school year.
A series of unfortunate events have led the us to the conclusion that the Academy is currently not a safe place for you- the students. To prevent any unwanted accidents or mishappenings it has been decided to end the school year early and close the Academy for a short amount of time.
We wish for all of you to be present at the assembly at 3PM, today. Until then you will have regular classes as it has been scheduled for the day.
I stared at the paper for a moment.
"Where did you get this?" I asked Chris.
"It was on my door. You had one too, you probably were just up too early to notice it."
I looked around and saw the cafeteria slowly filling with people that all seemed to be worked up.
I let out a sigh and pushed away my plate.
"Is there a single day in this school where there is nothing happening?" I asked, shaking my head slightly.
"Then it wouldn't be a Freak school anymore," Chris replied dryly.
I let out another sigh and turned to look out the window. It really shouldn't have surprised me to see Alice stomping towards our house.
"I guess, breakfast is over," I mumbled, not turning to look back at Chris.
Chris grumbled something in response, but I didn't get to hear it.
Both of us slowly rose from our chairs when a screeching voice rang in the ears of every single person in the cafeteria.
"Can you believe it?"
Alice was waltzing right toward us, looking so angry that it seemed like there was steam coming out of her ears.
She too was waving one of those papers around and looked like she was ready to stab someone with it. If that were possible and somehow I had a feeling that Alice would be capable of stabbing someone with a piece of paper.
She let herself drop on a chair at our table, causing Chris and I to look at each other before we both shrugged and sat back down.
"What's wrong, Alice?" I asked calmly, knowing that she just waited for someone to ask her that.
"My family is keeping things from me, that's what's wrong," huffed in response.
"What is that supposed to mean?" both Chris and I asked her.
She looked at the two of us, before she took a deep breath and spoke, "Well, it all starts with the fact that my father was apparently named the new principal of this school by the IDM. Or more accurately by Ms. Hale. That was the first thing that they didn't tell me about..."
"When did that happen?" Chris wondered.
"About the same day when the IDM decided that Aro should no longer do this job."
"Meaning?"
Alice sighed in exasperation. "On Saturday. One day after you all returned semi-alive to the hospital."
"Alright, but I don't really see the problem," I admitted.
"The problem is that nobody told me," Alice complained.
"Well, when the decision was only made three days ago, then I can't really blame your parents for not telling you yet. They were probably planning on it."
"I'm not even done yet," Alice snapped, shaking her head fiercely. "Not only is the IDM now taking the matter s of the school into their hands but also some other people that I don't know what they belong to. They are not from the IDM but some of them are and they are kinda in conflict with them right now because both parties are trying to manage the school now. I think those others call themselves 'the guardians' or something. I don't even know what they guard."
"Guardians?" I repeated slowly.
"Laurent is a guardian," Chris stated.
Both Alice and I looked at her.
"What?"
"How do you know?"
"That's what this Jacob kid said, remember? Something about a D-rank guardian or whatever. He's probably a guardian as well."
I thought back and nodded slowly in agreement. "Then Ms. Carmina is a guardian as well," I concluded.
"Probably."
"And what do they guard?" Alice threw in, impatiently.
"No idea."
"Okay, whatever. My point was actually, that my father decided to close the school early this year because of the differences between the IDM and the Guardians."
Alice let out an angry screech, causing several people to jump.
"Calm down, Al," Chris tried to sooth her but looked helplessly at me.
"Alice, what exactly is your problem in all this. Are you sad because school is ending a bit earlier than planned?" I asked her with furrowed eyebrows, since I was busily trying to find out what could set her off like that.
"My problem is that all this stuff happens without people telling me about it. Edward knew it and didn't even bother to tell me until I burst into his room earlier. Dylan also already new, because Edward told him. But nobody said anything to me."
"Edward knew about all of this?"
"Of course. Both Dylan and Edward were present when Ms. Hale burst into their room and offered Carlisle the job as the principal and the rest Edward knows thanks to his mind reading."
Both Chris and I stayed silent for a moment, unsure of what to say and processing these news.
"You know, I don't even care that they didn't tell me because I can figure the stuff out on my own, but they could have told me about all this before they made the decisions. Do you know what all of this means?"
Alice looked back and forth between me and Chris, her eyes looking a little crazy.
"Umm... no?" Chris admitted with a shrug.
"It means there is not going to be a prom," Alice shouted.
While everyone in the cafeteria shut their mouths to stare at Alice, I let out a groan and hit my hand against my forehead.
From all the things that this girl could worry about she chose the most unimportant of all. Who cares about that prom? I knew for a fact that I had actually already forgotten all about it.
"Bella?" Alice said quietly, sounding exhausted after her outburst.
"Yeah?"
"You're late for your exam."
"Wha-"
I hastily jumped up, grabbed my back and dashed out of the cafeteria.
Chris called something after me, but I didn't hear what it was.
I all but flew out of the house and raced in the direction of the school.
First I had worry about passing my exams before I thought about the school closing early and I definitely shouldn't even dare to think about Alice's prom drama.
I rolled my eyes at the silly little pixie, while I ran down the street.
Chris Pov
"Good luck, Bella," I called after my sister, who was already on the other side of the room.
I wasn't even sure if she had heard me.
Listening to Alice's mumbling about prom dresses with one ear and using the rest of my conversation to quickly scan the pages in my notebook again.
After a few minutes the distinct beeping of my phone reminded me that I had to get going.
"Alice, are you coming too or do you prefer to sit here alone?" I asked the sulking pixie lightly.
"Where are you going?" Alice asked, sounding a bit puzzled. I probably pulled her out of her tiny little world where everything was pink and glittery.
"Have to go and fail Physics," I replied curtly and swung my bag over my shoulder.
"As if that is going to happen," Alice scoffed and got up as well.
"It is possible, you know."
Alice merely waved me off and launched herself into another one of her speeches. This time about matching ties and dresses.
When we walked out of the house we all but ran into Rose, Edward and Dylan.
"Oh good, I was already afraid that you'd overslept," Rose said dryly.
"And miss the chance to write awesome equations that I would never need if it weren't for school?"
Rose rolled her eyes at me just when I noticed the missing persons in the group.
"Where are Jasper and Emmett?" I asked no one in particular.
"Jasper, still has to stay in bed," Alice answered immediately.
"He'll write the exams at the beginning of the new school year. Or maybe not. Depending on whether or not there is even going to be one."
She threw an accusing glare in Edward's direction, who just looked back at her with no expression on his face.
"Emmett had to take off a bit earlier for his exam," Rose informed me calmly .
I sighed at the thought of the next day.
"I honestly don't like these schedules. Tomorrow I have to wake up way too early for my liking just for my Specialized Magic exam."
"Well, you can always sleep with me. I'd make sure that you get up on time," Dylan said, suddenly very close to my ear.
I shoved him lightly before I hooked my arm through his. "Right, I'd probably end up missing the exam altogether, which is not in my best interest."
"So little faith in me." Dylan shook his head in mock sadness.
"I don't even think that you have to get up early tomorrow," Edward commented in a thoughtful tone.
"What are you keeping from me this time?"Alice demanded.
"Nothing, why should I keep anything from you?" Edward asked back in confusion, looking helplessly at Dylan.
"You didn't tell me that Daddy ruined my Prom dressing up session for Rose and Bella."
I instantly tuned the two of them out, not wanting to listen to Alice's rant about prom again.
Nobody except for her seemed to care about it.
"How you managed to live with her for several years is beyond me," I whispered to Dylan.
"Trust me, sometimes I wonder about it myself," he replied quietly.
"I can hear you guys, you know," Alice called, turning around to throw a menacing glare at us.
"Well, that's my cue to go," I said, relieved when the school was in front of us. "See you guys later."
I jogged toward the school to get away from Alice. The sound of steps behind me caused me to turn and I saw Rose, trying to catch up with me.
"What? You're not the only one who wanted to get away from that little pixie."
I only chuckled at that and shook my head.
We both entered the school building and quickly made our way through the corridors.
"Man, I can't believe that I'm actually looking forward to the exam," I mumbled. Anything was better than listening to another speech about prom dresses, the right mascara and underwear that matched the dress and the tie of your date. Why in the world would the underwear have to match?
I pushed these thoughts aside as soon as Rose and I entered the classroom where a few of our fellow students already waited.
Looking around, we both decided to take a seat at the far back, got settled and went over our notes again before the teacher entered.
Let the games begin.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
I let out a deep breath when I stepped out of the school. Two exams in one day were exhausting and I wasn't sure how I was going to make it through the next day on which I was scheduled to write three. Sure, the English exam today hadn't even been worth mentioning since I'm good at that but it was strangely tiring to sit still the whole time and concentrate.
I looked up in the sky, letting the sun warm my face.
"What's cooking, good looking?"
The sudden disturbance in my peacefulness made me look back down.
The voice had sounded too familiar and I wasn't surprised to see Jensen standing in front of me.
I only quirked an eyebrow at him, not sure what he wanted from me. He usually hadn't even greeted me when we met on campus outside of the 'classy meetings' so I didn't really get why he started now.
"You could just be polite and reply, you know," Jensen added when I didn't say a word.
I only shrugged in answer and strolled passed him.
He quickly turned and matched his stride to mine.
"Alright, don't talk. But I'm not sure how else you should be able to explain to me that you did not except my offer to go to the party with you. If I remember correctly you didn't go to the party at all, which I find strange by the way, and I briefly wondered if it was because no one asked you to go. The I suddenly remembered that I did ask you and you never gave me a reply, which resulted in me going with Janan which I personally didn't find nearly as entertaining as it would have been when you would have been my date."
"I was busy," was my short answer to that. What else was I supposed to say?
"Busy, huh?" Jensen replied with a mischievous expression on his face. "It couldn't ave had anything to do with Dylan Cullen, right?"
I halted in my movements and stared at Jensen with wide eyes. He just stood there with a pleased expression, which now caused me to narrow my eyes at him.
"What are you talking about?" I asked carefully.
"Nothing really," he replied slowly," There is just that rumor going around that you are pregnant and Dylan is the baby's dad, which I personally find pretty ridiculous. The other rumor is that your sister is pregnant and that it's not clear whether Edward or Dylan is the father."
"What?" I screeched, already getting ready to stomp on whoever was responsible for this.
"Oh wait, you haven't hear my personal favorite yet. You hooked up with Hale and got caught by his girlfriend. She goes and calls her brother who both beat the crap out of Hale. He goes to the hospital and his sister is so mad at the Cullens that she sends her boyfriend to deal with Dylan and Edward. Both of them go to the hospital as well right before you and your sister get send there after Alice some pretty nasty curses on the two of you."
I gaped at him for a moment, unsure of what I was supposed to say to all of this. After a moment of silent, though I found my voice again.
"Why in the world are these stupid rumors going around and why am I the one who should have been hooking up with Jasper?"
"Well, first of all. You're the only single one in this group-"
"Not true. Dylan-"
"He's with Heidi, you know that right?"
"No, he is not. They broke it off a while ago."
"Oh really? Huh."
Jensen seemed to be absorbing this new information and I wondered since when he had been such a sucker for gossip. "Ah well, anyway the reason those rumors are flying around is the fact that your sister and you, the Cullen boys and that Hale kid spent some time in the hospital starting Friday night. Some of the med- majors are helping out at the hospital, so this stuff goes public pretty quickly."
"Why does the whole school care when someone gets send to the hospital?"
"Oh, they don't. But the girls in this school always care about the stuff that happens to the Cullens and therefore also their friends. Not too mention that you and your sister have gotten even more recognition on campus since the fair. Lots of people knew you existed and all, but now everyone has faces to the names, which makes you more interesting seeing that you're both smo-"
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," I cut him off, not even wanting to hear that. I resumed my walk back to the house, not really wanting to continue that conversation.
"Hey Chris, aren't you going to tell me what happened?" Jensen asked, suddenly beside me again.
"Not really."
"Oh come on. I thought we're friends?"
One look in his direction was already enough to make me want to shove him into the next bush.
"We're not friends. I don't recall us ever being anything of the sort."
"You're right," Jensen admitted and then looked at me from below his lashes. "We're actually something more than friends, right?"
He put his arm around my waist and sent me a lazy smile.
"Tell you what, you tell me what happened on Friday night and I give you one hour of my time for a hot and steamy make out session."
Wow, that guy was too cocky for his own good. Every thought of him being hot that ever entered my mind was replaced by a sudden feeling of disgust as I tried wriggle out of his grasp.
"I think I have a better deal. You let go of me and I won't turn you into a pile of ashes."
"You forget that I am a Pyro myself," Jensen purred.
"You forget that I am way better than you are."
"Wanna test it out?"
"Hey, Chris," a voice then suddenly called. Both Jensen and I looked up to see Edward walking toward us. Jensen's grip on my didn't loosen the least bit when Edward came to halt in front of us and eyed us both curiously before he narrowed his eyes at Jensen's arm on my waist.
"Where are you two going? The assembly is about to start," Edward asked.
While his question sounded perfectly normal, his gaze was saying something completely different.
He looked mostly at me and it held a mixture of confusion, wonder and anger.
"Chris and I just wanted to have some fun before we head to the assembly. Isn't that right?"
Both boys looked at me expectantly.
A grimace spread on my face and I continued my attempt to free myself from Jensen.
"Yep, that's right. Breaking Jensen's bones until he can't move toward me again definitely sounds like fun. Don't you think, Edward?"
With my eyes I tried to make him grasp that I needed his help to get as far away as possible from that creep.
Luckily, Edward was the smart one in our pack and he immediately understood. "Sure, let me just get Emmett real quick I bet he wants to join in on the fun."
And just like that the hand on my waist vanished.
"I guess, I should get to that assembly quickly. Don't wanna miss anything important," Jensen mumbled quickly before he turned swiftly and walked away.
Letting out a deep breath, I clapped Edward on his back.
"Thanks for the help. I'm not sure if I would have gotten away with ashing his sorry ass."
"No problem. Although, you kind of had me confused for a moment."
"Hmm? Why?"
"You and that creep looked so cozy that I just wondered about..." he let his voice trail off.
"About what?"
"You and Dylan." He ran a hand through his hair and his eyes flitted over to the school. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he was waiting for Bella.
"Dylan and I?" I repeated slowly.
"The two of you are together now, are you not?"
Just then Bella walked out of the school, her eyes searching until she found Edward.
She skipped over to where we stood, completely ignored me and falling into Edward's arms to place a kiss on his nose. I didn't even try to comprehend that and instead focused my thoughts on my own Cullen topic. It definitely seemed like Dylan and I were together now, but I wasn't really sure about it. He had made me play his girlfriend for the day and made it sound to other like that was a permanent thing, but the two of us never really spoke about it. I sighed at the thought. Why couldn't life just be easy for me?
"Oh, Chris," Bella's voice suddenly said, probably because she just noticed me," I didn't know that you wanted to accompany Edward and me."
"I didn't," I replied dryly, still kind of lost in thought. "Your boyfriend just happened to rescue me on his way to get to you."
Whatever was being said after that went unnoticed by me, because my mind was just too occupied with the question whether or not Dylan and I were together.
When we reached our destination though, I discarded the thought deciding that I had more important things to occupy my thoughts with.
"There they are," Bella exclaimed and pointed to the front, where I could see Emmett's huge frame.
We all moved to get to the front, trying to bump into as little people as possible, which was a quite difficult task considering that everyone was just moving around like crazy chickens.
We finally made it to the front though and Bella had to drag Edward along, who was busily shooting death glares at a guy who's hand had accidentally made contact with Bella's butt.
Normally, I would have joined in on this glaring session, but I didn't really feel up to it. Besides, it wasn't really my job to keep creepy guys away from Bella- especially not after I had to be rescued by Edward.
I noticed the rest of the group sitting around Emmett as well and even Jasper had made an appearance, although he looked highly uncomfortable. I reckoned that the only thing that kept him from dashing out of this place was Alice, who held his hand in hers and spoke quietly to him. By the sounds of it, she was motivating him and told him how much faith she had in him.
Rose glanced passed Emmett every now and then to cast a worried look at her brother, while Dylan was writing notes with someone again.
The little piece of paper appeared and disappeared from his hand continually and I had to wonder with whom he was exchanging these notes.
I decided to sit down beside him and tried to peak at the paper in his hand, but it disappeared again after he had tapped his wand quickly on it.
He then looked up at me and smiled. "Hey Christa."
"Don't call me that," I complained, although only halfheartedly.
"Why not? Christa sounds a lot more feminine than Chris."
"I don't care. I don't like Christa. Chris suits me just fine."
Dylan only shook his head lightly until the little note reappeared in his hands.
I quickly snatched it out of his hands, ignoring his protest and scanned the little piece of paper.
Are you sure that you don't wanna hang out and have some fun with me?
I opened my mouth to ask Dylan what exactly that was supposed to mean, when someone cleared his throat loud enough for the whole room to hear. I turned my attention to the stage and Dylan used that moment to take his note back.
I didn't say anything about that and watched the tall man in front of us instead. He looked like he was in his late forties and I was pretty sure that I had never seen him before.
The seating arrangement from the last assembly was not the same, the teachers all sat there on regular chairs at the back of the stage, looking a bit concerned.
"For all those of you, who don't know who I am- I am Robert Jason, the head of the security department. My job is to keep all of you safe, especially the younger students who are not capable of defending themselves."
A few disagreeing murmurs went through the room, which made the guy roll his eyes.
"I know, I know... you are not all totally defenseless but that is hardly the point here. Due to some recent events- one of them being the death of Alistair Merchant- the IDM came to the decision that the school needs to be closed down for a short amount of time before it's ready to accommodate Students again and serve as a safe place for all of you."
Again the room filled with murmurs only louder this time. I turned to Dylan, who was leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed.
"Hey, when the school is going to be closed down, where exactly will you and your family go?"
His head whipped around and he gave me a look that told me that he hadn't even thought about that.
Mr: Jason's eyes darted around the room and annoyance was now clearly written in his face. He was definitely not one of the people that could deal well with children- especially not a huge crowd of children. He cleared his throat once more, effectively silencing the room again.
"In two days we will start sending the first students home. We will inform each student when it is time for his or her departure and we expect all of you to be ready by then."
I whipped my head around to look at Bella.
"How do we explain that to Mom and Dad?" I asked her.
She bit her lip thoughtfully, but didn't get to answer the question because Mr. Jason continued speaking.
"We will take care of the organization and of course, we will inform each of your parents. All you have to do now is pack your things and be ready for your departure. This means, of course, that there will be no more classes or exams until the next school year."
This time the murmurs where much more joyful, which didn't surprise me in the least. Everyone likes to get out of exams.
"Furthermore, I'd like to inform you that Carlisle Cullen is the new principal of the Academy. I hope that all of you are making this easy for him, because we all know what a busy man he is. Alright now, you are all dismissed so start packing your suitcases."
"What an abrupt way to end a school year," Bella mumbled. I got up from my chair and stretched.
"Yeah, I know. I'm not even sure if I should be happy or sad," I replied.
"You should be sad," Alice chirped in and hooked her arm through mine. "It leaves you less time with me."
"I guess, I'm happy to leave then."
Alice's lower lip started to tremble and she looked up at me with wide eyes. "Does that mean that you don't love me?"
"No, it means that I need a break from you and your craziness otherwise I might not be able to stand any more of it."
Alice let go of me and grabbed a hold of Jasper instead. "Psh, whatever. You will miss me soon enough anyway."
"She'll miss all of us," Emmett added and looked meaningfully at me.
I only stared back for a moment before I shrugged and then turned to get out.
Weaving through the other students, I made it out safely and waited in front of the door for the others. I didn't really have to wait long, since they used Emmett as their path-maker again.
"You can beg all you want, Alice, I won't let you pack my bag," Bella argued, not even looking at Alice while saying that.
"Why are you all being so ungrateful, today?" Alice asked in exasperation, although I really didn't see why she should be exasperated. After all, we were the ones that had to put up with her.
Bella and Alice continued their argument, occasionally pulling Rose in it as well, but thankfully leaving me out of it while we walked to the dormitories.
I trailed slowly behind the others and felt strangely excited to return home for a longer period of time. Although, it would probably be a little lonely without our crazy friends. I sincerely hoped that Bella hadn't caught that thought,because the last thing I wanted was Alice to think that I'd miss her. Next thing you know, she'll be standing at our porch insisting that she just came to free us from our misery. I sighed at the thought and decided that it might be a good thing that our friends weren't around for the summer.
"So what's on your mind, beautiful lady?" Dylan suddenly asked me, his arm snaking around my waist.
I hadn't even noticed that he'd been walking next to me.
"Just thinking about home," I replied.
We had reached the Blue House and just like always, everybody stepped in along with Bella and me. Sometimes I wondered if they didn't have own rooms to hang out in.
"Do you miss home?" Dylan asked me lightly.
"Of course, I do. Can't wait to get back into the normal world."
Dylan made a thoughtful sound and let go of me.
All of us barely made it to our floor, when I noticed to figures in the corridor.
"Are these Laurent and Delphine?" I asked Bella quietly, not sure if it were really those two, who were pacing around in front of our rooms.
"It looks like it," Bella replied.
Just then Laurent looked up and stopped his pacing.
"Ah, there you are," he stated and once again I had to notice his accent.
"Did something happen?" Alice asked in concern when we got closer to Laurent and Delphine.
"Wha- Oh, no. We're just here to help the twins with packing," Laurent explained.
"No offense, but I don't think that we need your help," Bella said carefully.
"Yes, you do. It'll be much faster when we help you. Everything has to be done fast for your departure tomorrow morning."
I froze mid-step. "Tomorrow morning? We're already leaving tomorrow morning?"
Laurent's face showed something close to regret. "Yes, the two of you are going to leave first thing in the morning."
"And Ren and I will be accompanying you," Delphine spoke up.
"Ren?" all of asked in confusion.
Laurent shook his head slightly, while Delphine started to smile brightly.
"That's my brother's nickname," she explained.
Then it clicked in my mind and I wondered why I hadn't come to the conclusion earlier.
"So Laurent is your brother? That's gotta be a tough life," I mumbled.
While Laurent gave me one of his disapproving looks, Delphine laughed whole-heartedly.
"I'm dealing with it, plus it gives me a few advantages sometimes," she replied.
"Well, that's all fine and dandy but would someone mind explaining why the girls need bodyguards to get them home? Or does every student get a teacher to accompany him or her?" Rose barged in, seemingly annoyed.
Laurent smiled sympathetically at her and then turned to enter Bella's room.
"Where is you suitcase?" he asked Bella as he pulled out his wand.
Bella instantly rushed to her bed and pulled out her two suitcases.
Laurent nodded and waved his wand around in fluent motions.
"You take care of Chris' room," he instructed, not looking at anyone whilst speaking but Delphine just pulled me along to get to my own room.
I pulled out my suitcases and a second later she started waving her wand around as well.
Sitting down on my couch, I watched when I saw all my belongings rising from their assigned places and floating through the air to settle themselves neatly in my suitcases.
Hopefully, I would be learning that soon because there was no way that I would continue to fold my clothes and such if there was an easier way.
"So Delphine," I said slowly, causing the girl to look at me briefly when I addressed her. "How come that you don't have an accent?"
Delphine furrowed her brows, looking like she was trying to figure out whether or not I was serious with my question. When she noticed that I was she answered," I do have the accent sometimes, but that's mostly when I have spoken French for a longer amount of time or particular words that I have trouble with."
I nodded my head slowly.
"Also, there is the fact that I had been living in America almost all my life. When our parents divorced Ren had stayed with my mother in France and I had gone to America with my father. We actually intended to switch but..."
She let her voice trail off and a sad expression placed itself on her beautiful face.
I had a feeling that asking her what exactly happened was not the smartest thing to do, so I came up with a quick change of topic.
"Hey, do you know what I have been wondering for a little while?" I asked her lightly.
Delphine, who had long stopped waving her wand dramatically in the air, looked up at me in question.
"Is Laurent dating Ms. Carmina?"
Delphine stared at me for a moment, seemingly speechless.
Then all of the sudden she burst into laughter.
The noise, of course, attracted the others and a moment later Dylan peaked into my room along with Alice and Emmett.
Dylan studied Delphine for a moment and somehow I had the strange feeling that he was checking her out.
"What are you staring at?" I snapped at him. His head turned to me and he looked at me with raised eyebrows, while Delphine was still laughing although she was starting to calm a little.
"Oh man, sorry about that," she wheezed out, wiping her eyes. Meanwhile I sat there with crossed arms, sending death glares in Dylan's direction. He'd just cocked his head to the side in confusion, looking back and forth between Delphine and me.
"What's the joke?" Emmett asked curiously, oblivious to anything beside Delphine's laughing fit.
Alice on the other hand suppressed a knowing grin and I considered for a brief moment to chuck a book at her head.
"Chris asked me if Ren was dating Ms. Carmina," Delphine clarified and started giggling again.
I turned my head into her direction again, still annoyed with Dylan and for some reason now displeased with her as well.
"As far as I know, Ren never dated anyone. He's a workaholic. All he does is work and when he doesn't work- well, then he'll find some work to do."
"That's not funny," Alice complained, "It's kinda sad and a waste of good looks but not funny."
"It was funny to me. Especially, when Ren came to me a few weeks ago and complained about Ms. Carmina and how she seems to have a crush on him. I find that hilarious."
"Ms. Carmina has a crush on Mr. Decour?" Emmett asked with wide eyes. I didn't really understand why everyone in this school was such a sucker for gossip.
Delphine shrugged. "Who knows? It kinda seems like it sometimes though."
"Hmmm... Mr. Decour and Ms. Carmina," Alice hummed thoughtfully. "I don't know. It might work, since they are something like equals, but in my opinion he needs someone who makes him seem a little more... human. I don't think that a demon would do the trick."
Just then Laurent appeared behind Alice, looking like he had heard everything.
A cough left my mouth and was followed by a few others, before I bit my lip to prevent myself from laughing.
Alice didn't need to turn to know that he was standing behind her and she squeezed her eyes shut as if she was scared that he would hit her.
Both Dylan and Emmett looked far too amused by all of this, while Delphine's face showed a guilty expression and she attempted to smile innocently.
"Quand j'ai te donné la permission de parler de ma vie privée?" Now that was something no one was prepared for- Laurent speaking French. It had already bee registered in my head that Laurent had a handsome face.
Slightly almond-shaped eyes, perfectly angled nose, kissable lips, neatly trimmed beard and of course flawless skin. On top of that came the fact that his physique was quite impressive. Muscles that seemed to be made up of rocks and yet he managed to look sorta lean-which probably had to do with his height.
Of course, his weird personality- the way he was all quiet and gloomy- made him appear pretty cool and yet strangely intimidating. That was a plus as well- at least in my book. Now all this time his French accent only added to his obvious sexiness- just stating the obvious- but apparently I had been wrong.
His accent was just the light version of the true sexy talk of Laurent Decour. If his accent was the last pinch of sugar in a cake, him speaking French was like the icing on top. Sure he had spoken French before during class but he had spoken much slower then.
It was just too much.
"Arrête de pleurer, je voulais simplement répondre à la question. Ce n'est pas comme je leur ai parlé sur tous ton petits secrets sombres," Delphine replied with a role of her eyes. She spoke just as beautifully as her brother did and when my eyes wandered over to Dylan, who looked at her in awe, a scowl set itself onto my face.
"Can't you deal with your family issues somewhere else?" I interrupted just when Laurent had been about to open his mouth. "C'est un peu gênant et certainement pas intéressant- du moins non pas pour moi."
Both of the Decours whipped their heads around to look at me.
Bella and Edward had chosen that moment to appear in my room as well.
"You speak French?" Delphine asked in surprise.
Bella giggled. "Merveilleux, n'est-il pas?"
"Just stop with the French already," Emmett groaned, stomping out of the room.
"Don't tell me that you learned that during French classes," Alice said,"Because I sure can barely introduce myself in French."
I looked at Alice with raised eyebrows. "That's not even true. I copied your French homework the other day."
Laurent cleared his throat to remind us of his presence, but there actually was no need for that since we all knew that he was there.
"Yes, but I can't speak French. I'm good at writing essays and translating but as soon as I'm suppose to talk, I forget everything."
"Well, despite the fact that we have a marvelous French teacher," Bella gestured to Laurent, who shook his head in turn,"We kind of had French classes since... when was it again?"
"The day Mom decided we would look cute with berets," I muttered.
"Three years," Bella exclaimed.
"You know, I still think that it wasn't nice of Mom to sign us up for French classes with that horrible Mademoiselle Ella."
"Yes Chris, I know. You've been telling me that ever since she started teaching us," Bella replied with a sigh.
"Just saying," I mumbled.
"For what it's worth, I think that the woman is crazy. Plus, she bailed on us. No normal person has the flu for over three months."
"I hope she's still sick, because I don't want to spent my vacations with learning French. If I want French, I'll kiss someone."
Delphine laughed at that again. "Baise-moi."
Laurent looked at her in disapproval, shook his head and left the room again, beckoning for Bella to follow him.
I didn't know what his problem just was. All Delphine had said was 'Kiss me!'. He was quite the prude, considering that he was French.
Edward chuckled and said,"You got it wrong, Chris. It may mean 'Kiss me' if you translate it, but it means something entirely different to the French."
With these words he left my room as well along with Emmett and Dylan. Alice decided to keep me company and sat down next to me on my couch, while Delphine resumed with packing my things.
"So what's the deal with you and Dylan?" Alice asked lightly.
I knew that she would ask me that sooner later and all I could do in response was shrug.
Delphine was definitely listening and flicked her wand quickly in the direction of the door to close it before she continued directing my things.
Alice sighed. "He is such an idiot sometimes."
I wasn't sure if she was just voicing her thoughts.
"As if that's anything new," I responded.
Alice looked at me. "Just let him be an idiot a bit longer. Eventually, he'll turn into a guy."
These words were definitely not helpful, but I didn't say anything and just nodded.
XxXxXxXXXxXxXxXxXxXxX
"I can't believe that you are already leaving so early tomorrow," Rose said, while she hugged me once very tightly.
"No sleeping in, thanks to you guys," Emmett added, earning a punch from Rose.
"Good night, Em," I said and pushed him out the door.
"Sleep well, little one." He grinned widely and pulled Rose along.
I closed the door and let out a deep breath.
Walking slowly over to my bed and looking around my now very empty room, I suddenly had a very strange feeling in the pit of my stomach.
I had to remind myself that I was not leaving for ever otherwise I might have started crying, which would be pretty embarrassing if someone walked in.
Still this sudden and abrupt end of the year made was kind of unsettling.
I thought back to our first encounter with Laurent a year ago. The poor guy would probably never get along with me. I didn't even dislike him in anyway- in fact, he was my favorite teacher apart from the Cullens- but it was just too much fun to get on his nerves.
It was hard to believe that a whole year had passed. So many things had happened during this time and yet, I felt like it wasn't even enough. At least not of the good stuff. The bad things that happened in this school were enough for a whole life time. It was kind of scary that Bella and I had been involved into every disaster that had taken place in this school. Well not disaster, but I was pretty sure that our friends wouldn't have gotten kidnapped back in Phoenix.
I sighed and sank deeper into the pillows. Remembering the first encounter with the Cullens was the last thing I did before I slowly drifted off.
In the middle of a dream about French kissing and Dylan, I was woken up by a sudden sound.
I opened my eyes and looked around the room in alarm.
When I saw someone sitting at the edge of my bed, I was ready to scream bloody murder but the person's hand was on my mouth before I could take a breath.
"Relax Chris, it's just me," Dylan's voice whispered. I squinted my eyes and looked at the dark frame of the person in front of me. I could hardly make out his features but when the familiar scent of Aloe and Apple Blossoms entered my nose, I knew for sure that it was Dylan.
Somehow it was kinda scary how I identified him by his scent.
I yanked his hand away from my mouth and glared at him.
"What the hell are you doing here in the middle of the night? Don't tell me you adapted your brothers strange habit to walk into other people's rooms and watch them sleep?"
The mention of Edward, caused Dylan to look around the room once.
"No, I was actually hoping that you'd be awake. Although, I never though it would be so interesting to watch someone sleep."
I could practically hear the grin at the end. I simply groaned in response and turned around.
"Don't you need to sleep?" I mumbled.
"Can't."
"Then read a book or something." I was already halfway in dream land again.
"Chris?"
"hmm?"
"Do you mind if I just cuddle up with you?"
And just like that I was awake again. I couldn't really decipher the tone of his voice, but I didn't dwell on that for too long.
"Why?" I asked in bewilderment.
Dylan shrugged. "I kinda felt like it."
"So you just walked over into my room? How did you manage that anyway?"
"I didn't walk. You forget that I have a very spe-"
"Yeah, yeah. I get it." I cut him of and let my head drop onto the pillow again. "Just get under the blanket and be quiet, please."
I watched Dylan's dark figure as he hurried to get himself comfortable in my bed.
A few seconds later I lay there with his arms around me, my face in the crook of his neck and his breath on my hair.
I wanted to sleep but the fact that Dylan was tracing patterns on my back was quite distracting.
Since sleep was apparently no longer an option, I started to play with his hair.
"You know what?" Dylan asked quietly.
"What?"
"I think I never actually disturbed anyone in the middle of the night just because I felt like cuddling."
"Should I feel special now?" I intended to sound sarcastic, but the little smile on lips made that impossible.
Dylan pulled my face up to his and placed a peck on my lips. "Yes, you should."
"I guess, I will then," I replied and then kissed him back with a lot more force.
Once again I let my instincts take over only this time I didn't get startled.
Bella Pov
"I don't want to go home yet," I mumbled into Edward's chest.
"I don't want you to go either," he answered.
I sighed. "I really wished you could come with me."
Edward chuckled. "It's only for the summer, love. It'll be over before you know it."
"That's not true. Any time you want something to pass it'll go on for ever and I'll have to stand a whole summer without you. Who am I supposed to talk to at the end of the day?"
"I'm sure Chris is more than happy if you talk to her."
"Probably. But talking to you is different. Besides, I can't kiss her."
"Well, you can..."
"That's gross."
I shuddered at the mere thought. Edward just laughed.
"Is that all your going to miss?" he then asked. He sounded playful but I could hear a hint of doubt I his voice.
"No, of course not. I'll miss your hair and your eyes as well. Especially, your eyes. Their gorgeous."
Edward didn't reply to that.
"Then I'll miss having breakfast with you every other morning and I'm not sure how I am supposed to sleep without you now."
At that Edward chuckled quietly again.
I sighed again. "I'll just miss you. You as a whole person. And do you know why?"
"Why?"
"Because I love you," I sang and giggled afterward.
"Funny," Edward said," I was just thinking the same thing."
"What a surprise, really," I joked.
"You know, maybe I'll come to visit you this summer. I'm pretty sure that your mother is just dying to meet me."
I hit him lightly, when he started laughing.
Every time, Edward had been around when I talked on the phone with my mother she would demand to speak to him as well, so she could test out her shameless flirting skills on him.
It was truly mortifying.
"You know, now that I think about it I don't think I'm gonna miss you all that much."
"What?" Edward asked in mock shock.
I yawned while I nodded my head fiercely.
"You heard me," I muttered before another yawn escaped my mouth.
"I guess it's time to sleep," Edward commented and managed to get both of us out of our seating positions and hugged me close to him while he draped the covers over the two of us.
"I don't really want to sleep," I told him.
"Neither do I, but I also don't want Mr. Decour running in here tomorrow morning and yanking you out without giving me a chance to say good bye."
"I still don't get why he needs to accompany us."
"And unfortunately, I do not have an answer for you."
"That's alright. I still love you." My eyes closed slowly and I yawned once more time.
"I love you too and now sleep."
I nodded and snuggled closer to Edward's warm body.
I vaguely noticed that he was humming something before I drifted off to sleep.
"Bella, love, wake up."
I groaned and threw the pillow in the direction of the voice.
A quiet thump gave me the satisfaction that I needed to continue sleeping.
"That was just rude, Bella," Edward complained and threw the pillow back at me.
"Let me sleep," I moaned.
"Not a chance. Delphine just walked in and had been about to drag you out of bed."
I groaned once more and opened one eye. "What time is it?" I asked groggily.
"It's six o'clock and you are going to be leaving in one hour," Edward replied, sounding like one of those annoying computer voices.
"Get out then, I need to get dressed," I instructed, while I stretched my arms above my head.
Edward chuckled and shook his head at me. "Just make sure to hurry, before I'll have to explain myself to Delphine again. We'll be waiting for you outside."
I nodded and slowly heaved myself out of bed.
Edward placed a quick kiss on my forehead before he left my room, once more telling me to hurry."
I shuffled around my more or less empty room and got all the necessary things for my morning routine out of my bags, before I dragged my feet out of the room and over to Chris'.
I wanted to knock but the door opened before my hand made contact with the door.
"Good morning," Chris all but sang, with a glowing smile on her face.
I raised an eyebrow at that.
"What's gotten you so chipper this morning?" I asked her.
"Oh, this and that..." she let her voice trail off.
"And what is 'this and that'? If it's some kinda drug, you should be sharing it with me, cause I feel kinda heavy this morning."
"Sorry, I don't think it's possible to share that."
She closed her door and both of us went to the bathroom.
"And what exactly is 'that'?" I pressed, starting to get curious.
Chris sighed and rolled her eyes. She pushed the bathroom door open and immediately set her things down at the nearest sink.
I sighed and just let it go. If it was anything of importance Chris would probably tell me sooner or later.
We both got ready in silence, although Chris was humming every now and then. I contemplated intruding her mind, but then discarded the thought. I didn't want her rummaging around in my head all the time so I should keep myself out of hers.
"Are you done?" I asked Chris when I had gathered all of my things.
She nodded and we both stepped out of the bathroom, only to find Laurent waiting directly in front of the door.
"Jesus," I yelped and then put a hand on my heart. It was racing madly while I looked at Laurent in disbelief.
"Were you waiting for us?" I asked him.
He nodded curtly and then stepped aside to let us pass.
"Do you always lurk around in front of the girl's bathroom?" Chris asked in annoyance.
Laurent didn't supply her with an answer.
"We're leaving in ten minutes," he announced and then walked away from us. Only now I noticed the little caravan of suitcases following him.
"That was... kinda weird," I stated as we both looked after him.
"It was," Chris agreed and then suddenly whipped her head around. "Have you heard him yesterday when he spoke French?"
A smile placed itself on my lips. "Yes, I did."
"And?"
"What?"
"What do you think?"
"Of him speaking French?"
"Yes!"
It was a pretty weird question to ask and I wondered why she needed to know what I thought about our teacher's language skills.
"What can I say? He's French so obviously his French is perfect. Although, there was something abnormally beautiful about the way he spoke," I replied thoughtfully.
It was true. When Laurent had argued with his sister in Chris' room, the two bed room doors had been wide open, enabling me to hear every word. My heartbeat had quickened for a second when I had heard him speak, but it passed quickly. Yet, I had to admit that Laurent was a little too attractive to be a teacher. Just like Carlisle and not to forget Esme.
Carlisle alone was enough to make the entire female population of the school swoon.
Sometimes I wondered if the girls that always walked up to him at the beginning of class honestly thought that they stood a chance against Esme.
"Thank God," Chris breathed out.
I looked at her in confusion, not sure if I had missed something.
"I was already fearing that I was weird for thinking that he was hot."
"I never said that he was hot," I replied and raised an eyebrow at her.
Chris waved me off.
"That doesn't matter. You don't have to say it- it's a fact."
I chuckled at her words and then went into my room to put the last of my things into my backpack.
"Let's get going, Bells," Chris called from the door, her bag already slung over her shoulder.
I sighed and looked around the room. It felt kind of weird to be leaving- especially since the departure came all of the sudden.
We merely stepped out of the house when we were suddenly attacked by Alice.
"I'm going to miss you so much," she sobbed while she squeezed every bit of oxygen out of me.
"Can't breathe, Al," I wheezed out.
Alice's grip didn't loosen.
"Alice, stop suffocating her!" Edward exclaimed and came running toward us.
He pried is sister off of me and tried to keep her in place, but she was already endangering Chris' life.
"Alice get off," Chris complained and tried to get rid of the little pixie.
"Never," Alice shouted and tightened her grip.
"Aren't you going to help her?" I asked Edward, watching the two girls wrestle.
"Nah, I think she can manage," he replied lightly ad then looked at me.
The way he looked at me made me feel self-conscious.
"What?"
He waved me toward him."Come here."
I stepped closer to him and he pulled me into a tight- but still gentle- hug.
"It's going t be a long summer without you," he mumbled.
"I'm sure you can manage," I told him.
"Hey Edward, you already got to cuddle up with her all night. Now it's our turn," I heard Emmett complain.
He and Jasper were walking up to us as well, just when car pulled up in front of us.
It was a sleek black Mercedes and the person that stepped out of it was Delphine.
"I see that you're on time," she observed and gave all of us a beautiful smile.
"Help!"I turned toward Chris, who was still struggling with Alice.
"Come on little squirt," Emmett laughed and grabbed Alice. He just heaved her into the air as if she weighed nothing at all and passed her on to Jasper. "It's my turn to hug the life out of the twins."
Chris let out a little yelp before Emmett lifted her up and seemed to be crushing her.
I turned toward Delphine.
"Where's your brother?" I asked.
"Oh, he has take care of some formalities, but he's going to be here any second," she replied and leaned casually against the car.
"I love your outfit," Alice exclaimed and stared at Delphine in awe.
"Thanks," Delphine replied slowly, probably wondering why Alice stared at her like that.
She was wearing a pair of ripped hot pants and a checkered blouse that as tucked inside her pants. Along with that she had several necklaces and bracelets on. It wasn't that special, but Alice was probably more impressed with the way Delphine manged to make herself look so glamorous, although she was wearing pretty casual clothes.
Suddenly, I was being pulled in the air, before I found myself in one of Emmett's bone crushing hugs. It was scary how Alice managed to squeeze people just as tightly as Emmett did.
Sometimes, I really had to wonder if Emmett wasn't her real brother.
"Are you ready to leave?" I heard Laurent's voice asked from somewhere. I couldn't turn to look at him, since Emmett didn't let me have any space at all.
"Not yet," I heard Chris reply.
"I'll miss you, Belly-Beans," Emmett whispered to me.
"Emmett, it's only over the summer," I told him, although I felt exactly the same.
"I know and it's going to be a boring summer without you. You will have to stay in touch."
"And I've got just the thing," Rose's voice suddenly spoke up right beside me.
Emmett set me gently down on the floor again and bot of us turned toward Rose.
She was a little out of breath and I assumed that she had just run over to us.
She handed me a little baggy. I looked at her questioningly, but she only motioned for me to open it and then turned to give Chris one as well.
Inside the little bag was a pocket mirror and I briefly wondered why Rose would give us mirrors.
Sure it was a beautiful mirror. It was golden and had a little rose craved into it.
"It's a Medeis Mirror. Much better than those stupid cellphones and way more sophisticated than this wand messaging crap. All you have to do is open it and then trace the rim of the mirror three times counter-clockwise while you say the name of the person you want to talk to."
"What if I say your name and forget to mention your surname?" Chris asked.
"That won't matter. It's a spell that works basically with your thoughts. If you say my name, you would automatically think of me, so it wont be a random person on the other end," Rose explained quickly.
"That's definitely better than a cellphone," I agreed and then hugged Rose."Thank you."
"No problem. Just make sure to call me as often as possible."
"What about the rest of us?" Jasper asked.
"You already have a mirror," Alice chirped and shoved him lightly.
"Yes, but you don't."
"I have some more in my room. Mom gave them to me a few days ago," Rose replied with a roll of her eye.
"Alright, it's time to leave now." Laurent announced.
"What? No way," Alice complained. She was about to jump on me again, but Jasper heldher back and stepped toward me instead.
"Bye, Bella," he said quietly and patted my head when he let go. I scowled shortly at him, but couldn't help but smile when he grinned.
"Where is Dylan?" Chris asked beside me, suddenly sounding sad.
All of us looked around but didn't see him anywhere.
"That's odd," Edward mumbled.
"He's still in his room," Alice stated. Then her gaze shifted toward Chris. "And he's not coming out."
Chris expression turned thoughtful. "Hmm."
"Get in the car," Laurent pressed impatiently.
I turned toward the car and pulled Chris along while waving at the others.
"See you soon."
Laurent all but pushed us into the car and shut the door.
I had to roll down the window, so that the otehrs could see us.
Laurent hastily walked around the car and Delphine slid into the passengers seat.
"Bye," I called once more to my friends, who all waved at us, with different expressions on their faces. Chris waved as well, but it didn't seem like she was truly paying any mind to them.
I waved until I couldn't see the group anymore and then sunk back in my seat.
Laurent took that as a cue to roll the window up and sped through the streets of the campus.
Now that we were all alone I finally asked the question that had been bothering me for quite some time.
"Why are you taking us to the airport?" I asked Laurent.
"Because you need to get your flight?" he answered, although he made it sound like a question.
"Yes, I know but what I didn't mean that. Couldn't we have taken one of the school buses? Or is everyone going to get a teacher that drives them there?"
Chris' ears perked up at the question, seemingly interested in the answer as well.
Delphine chuckled quietly.
"We're not just taking you to the airport. We're going to fly with you as well," she told us.
Chris and I exchanged brief looks of surprise.
"Why?" we asked in unison.
"Because that's our job," Laurent replied curtly.
"To play babysitter for your students?" Chris asked.
"No, to keep the two of you safe."
"Has this anyting to do with Aro?" I wondered.
"Yes, he's part of the reason."
"And the other part is that you are a guardian, right?" Chris added.
Laurent's face scrunched up in a frown.
"What do you know?" he asked.
"About the guardians?"
"Yes."
"No-" I clamped my hand over Chris' mouth.
"We know that it is your job to guard us," I replied calmly.
Laurent's hands tightend around the steering wheel and Delphine looked worriedly at her borhter.
"What else?" he demanded.
I thought for a moment and let every little detail that I could still remember pass my mind.
If Laurent was supposed to guard us then...
"Alistair was a guardian too, wasn't he?"
Silence followed.
"Yes, he was." Delphine eventually answered quietly- earning an angry look form her brother.
"He told us to come to you when we found out the reason, but I don't know what he meant by that."
"Maybe the reason why we need guards," Chris supplied afer having pushed my hand away.
"What would that reason be?" I asked her.
"Aro," she answered with a shrug.
I nodded slowly, trying to get some order into my thoughts.
"What else did Alistair tell you?" Lauren asked.
"Nothing," Chris and I answered.
"Good. And I will not tell you anything either until he has spoken to you."
"Gosh, I wish you would just tell us who 'he' is," Chris murmured.
"He's our boss," Delphine replied.
The look Laurent gave her told me that she wasn't supposed to talk that much. I grinned slightly.
"Does this person have a name?" I asked innocently, my eyes trained on the back of Delphine's head.
Laurent let out a sigh.
"His name is Marcus."
Esme Pov
"Honey, what is it?" I asked my husband gently, who was pacing around in the living room and was tugging anxiously on his hair.
"I'm not sure if I can do this," he replied, his voice barely a whisper.
I looked at him, not quite sure what he was talking about. "Do what?"
"Leading this school. I'll have to keep all of them safe and I don't know if I am able to do that."
I got up from the couch and walked towards to put my arms around his waist.
"Of course, you can do it. No one is better suited for this job than you are and I know that the students are ecstatic to have you as their new principal," I reassured him.
"I know that I would be able to do it under normal circumstances but not like this," Carlisle replied and pulled himself out of my hug.
"What do you mean?" I asked him. In all the years that we have been together, I was pretty sure I had never seen my husband so insecure.
"Esme, this school is no longer is a safe place for our students."
"But I thought the IDM was going to work on that?"
"Yes, but that only came up after I had talked to them. It had been my idea to close the school early and I practically forced the IDM to do something about the school's security."
"You forced then?" I asked in wonder. It was hard for me to imagine that.
"Well, I had help from Laurent and his people."
I looked at my husband more closely and realized that there was something that he was not telling me.
"Carlisle, what happened?"
He looked at me and I saw his eyes filling with sadness before he reached into his pocket and held out a crumbled piece of paper towards me.
I took it and unfolded it it before I read the words on it.
One mistake has called for the shadows.
Shadows of grief, anger and fear.
Grief for those who have lost a loved one,
anger for those who have missed their chance.
The fear is for all of you but especially for them.
The two that everyone wants to win.
Why fear? Well, that's simple.
It's because we are here.
We lurk in the shadows of grief, anger and fear.
I read the note several times, trying to make sense of it. It didn't give away any information and yet, I felt as if this was threat. A shiver went through my body and I looked up at Carlisle, who looked back at me with the same worried expression.
A/N: Okay first of all... I need to translate hat little French conversation:
Laurent:"Quand j'ai te donné la permission de parler de ma vie privée?"- When did I give you the premission to talk about my private life?
Delphine:"Arrête de pleurer, je voulais simplement répondre à la question. Ce n'est pas comme je leur ai parlé sur tous ton petits secrets sombres."- Stop crying, I just answered the question. It's not like I told them about all your dark little secrets.
Chris:"C'est un peu gênant et certainement pas intéressant- du moins non pas pour moi."- It's a little annoying and definitely not interessting- not to me at least.
Bella:"Merveilleux, n'est-il pas?"- Wonderful, isn't it?
Alright, now that that's cleared... We have made it to the end! Yes, yes I know. The confusion is still there and I probably made you guys even more confused. Unfortunately, I can't say that I'm sorry because I enjoy leaving all of you in the dark.
But of course, I love all of you and I really reaaaaally really want to thank you for sticking around this long.
It probably hasn't been easy with me and I'm pretty sure that sometimes I write some few crappy things ;)
So Thank you for reading this FF and those of you who have reviewed even if just once- Thank You!
For some reason I always start typing when I get a review until I suddenly don't know what to type anymore :P
Alright, I'm kinda tired and I don't even know what I'm currently typing, so I'll just stop harrassing my keyboard and go to bed. Big chunks of love to all of you and don't forget to leave a little review!