21.

The days leading up to the performance went by slowly. It seemed that everyone went out of his or her way to appear normal, never once mentioning anything about the night the Volturi came. I wasn't sure whether to be thankful for the silence or not. I understood what it meant: we will be here for you whenever you're ready to talk about it. Until then, they would pretend that it hadn't even happened. Alice came over every night, and thought she never said a word about it, I could tell she was dying for me to tell her what had happened. I could tell it from the way she sometimes got up and walked the room, running her hand along the wall, or the soft taping of her foot against the floorboards. I hated to keep her hanging, but I wanted to wait until after the performance was behind us, so I would have at least one less thing to worry about.

Finally it was Friday. Alice came by the house early to pick me up. I kissed John goodbye and told him someone would be by to pick him up before the show started. He nodded sleepily and rolled over.

Closing the bedroom door behind me, I turned to Alice. "Hey," I said with a soft smile.

"Hello," she smiled back. "Want to take your car?" she asked. I felt a soft stab of guilt as I realized she was being extra nice to me today, hoping I would spill the beans, and knowing I would make her wait.

"Sure," I replied, trying to sound happy. I was happy inside; I was just having a hard time showing it. Over the past few days, I had found that I had to push my feelings further to make them look genuine. I had thought there would be a great black hole waiting to pull me in, some massive pit of despair, but nothing like that happened. I was simply being sucked dry of any real emotion, slowly. I would have to tell them tomorrow before I became a shell of myself.

I pushed my thoughts aside as I climbed into the front seat of the little Volkswagen Beetle that the Cullens had fixed up and given to me my first year with them.

I stuck the key into the ignition and listened to the engine turn over smoothly. Jacob had completely gutted this old car and put in a new everything for me. I pulled up to the Cullens house upon Alice's instruction and waited as Esme and Bella piled into the back seat. Esme's face was lighted up with joy as she greeted me. I found her happiness contagious and soon we were all laughing and singing along to the radio as we drove towards Forks High School. Behind us rode Edward, Carlisle, and Jasper in Edward's Volvo, while Rosalie and Emmett had decided to take Rose's convertible. It was a beautiful day out, so both our tops were up, but I had rolled down the windows. There were no other cars in sight, so there was no one to see our non-flapping hair.

By the time we got to the school, my mood was elevated so high to the point of bursting with joy. I grinned at Esme, who winked at me. She knew exactly what she was doing.

I glanced around the parking lot, making sure it was completely empty. No one was in sight. Everyone piled out of their perspective cars into the sunlight. The world lit up like someone had turned on the floodlights, every building around us reflecting our sparkling skin. I felt like a disco ball as we moved to the door that led to the gym. Carlisle pulled out the key and we all moved through the doors. The light outside grew dimmer as we stepped out of the sun, into complete darkness. Emmett spotted the breaker box first, turning on all the lights inside the large gym.

Emmett came to stand beside Bella, poking her in the ribs with his elbow. "Bring back good memories?"

She scowled at him, but couldn't help from laughing. "Yeah," she said. "Great memories."

I glanced at Esme for an explanation. She smiled at me. "Let's just say Bella was never the most coordinated person in the world, and sports were her main enemy."

I laughed. "I see."

Alice had made her way to the front of the gym, quickly pulling herself into the role of main event coordinator. She directed us as the boys moved to set up chairs and the girls hung up decorations. I stayed inside while Esme and Bella moved boxes from the cars. I gaped in shock at the mountain of cardboard boxes they piled up. "Alice!" I exclaimed in surprise. "How much stuff did you bring?"

She fluttered over to my side. "Don't worry about it, Lisa," she said happily. "I just got a little more than what we planned for.

"Well, I can see that!"

Alice flapped her hands at me. "Stop worrying. It will all look absolutely gorgeous when we're done."

"You do realize the parents came to watch their children perform, not look at a light show."

Alice put on a pouty face. "We're just creating an atmosphere, Lisa."

I broke down as she stared at me with pitiful eyes. "Alright."

Alice smiled at me but didn't move, as if she was expecting something more. I laughed softly. "Thank you, Alice." I hugged her.

She cheered up as she hugged me back. Then she was skipping off, saying over her shoulder jubilantly, "It'll be great, Lisa! You'll love it!"

The hands on the clock hanging above the basketball hoop in a cage seemed to move as if seconds were passing by, not minutes and hours. Around me, the ordinary gym was being transformed into something resembling a fairyland. Alice had brought lanterns and all kinds of hanging lights, including strands of white Christmas lights. She had brought a roll of gauze to run along the floor in the middle of the two sides of chairs, leading up to the stage Emmett and Edward had put together. They had crafted a foldable wooden platform in their spare time at home. This was the first time I was seeing it. I ran my hand along the soft polished surface. "Wow, Edward! This is fantastic." Emmett stood beside him, beaming.

But Edward, modest as always, shrugged his shoulders. "It wasn't all that hard to make. And we were glad to do it."

Emmett nodded enthusiastically, though he seemed a little put off by Edward's denial of how grand the creation was. I smiled at him and gave him two thumbs up.

Alice had brought star lamps to hang over the stage, along with all kinds of white flowers: lilies, roses, and orchids.

It was 5:45 when we got everything finished. Alice was just putting a ribbon around the last chair when the first student filed in. Her name was Sheila and she was in my class. Her mouth fell open as she took in the sight of her transformed high school gym. "Wow," she uttered slowly.

Alice led her to the locker room as she bragged about how good the gym looked.

"You did all this?" I heard Sheila ask in amazement.

Slowly the rest of the students filed in, all showing the same surprised awe that Sheila had shown. Slowly the trickle of students stopped, giving way to the flow of parents. Esme and Carlisle were assigned to the duty of giving the hand outs to every parent, while Jasper and Rose led them to their seats. We had twenty minutes before the show was going to start, so I made my way to the locker room to check on progress. The energy inside the locker room was incredible. I walked in and could hear all the girls chatting wildly away. Cell phones beeped and chimed as girls received texts, probably sharing with their friends what the place looked like. I heard one 5th grader on the phone, talking rapidly, trying to explain everything.

Clapping my hands together loudly to get everyone attention, I told them that all the parents were here, including some special guests like Bella's father, the school principals of elementary, middle, and high school, and the old dance teacher. An excited chatter started up again when I mentioned this. I had to call for attention three times before there was silence again.

"Alright. Is every one in costume?" A chorus of 'Yes's resounded back to me. "Alice, have you checked everyone?"

She nodded. "They're all ready."

I clapped my hands. "Awesome! Now, we have about fifteen minutes left, so I want everyone who hasn't stretched yet to stretch now." Several girls moved to the floor to begin their stretches. "We don't need any cramped muscles today. Now, does everyone remember the order? Repeat it back to me."

Everyone nodded. "Group numbers go first, starting with the youngest to the oldest, than solo, than we go all together," spoke up Riley, a 3rd grader who liked to be the one to give the correct answer.

We had chosen one girl from each age group to represent the whole class in a solo number based on talent and group vote. I nodded. "Good job. Has everyone got that?"

"Yes, Miss Lisa!"

"Alright. Everyone will wait back here until Alice and I escort you out. I don't want anyone talking or laughing while others are performing. You can hear everything out there. Got it?"

Everyone replied in the affirmative.

"And remember girls, we can't be waving or trying to get someone's attention during the whole performance. Once you are on stage, you what?"

"We're there only to perform!"

"Good job."

I glanced at my watch. "Ten minutes everyone. Check your costumes, finish your stretches, and I need the first group to line up. Who's first?"

"Us!" chimed the seven kinder garden girls. They moved to form a line in front of the door, squirming with excitement. Alice came to stand by me, smiling like a little girl at Christmas time. I had offered to let her give the opening welcome speech, but she had declined sweetly, telling me as founder of the dance company I should give it. Now, I was wringing my hands nervously. I had only given a speech once before, in my college debate class. Though I had not been booed off the stage, there was little response and I had barely passed the class. Alice saw how nervous I was and she took her hand in mine, offering me a reassuring smile. "You'll do great!"

I nodded, cracking the door open. Suddenly I felt like I was 7 again, waiting to go out to perform my first solo ever in front of hundreds of people. I stood up straight and cleared my throat, pushing past my nerves as I made my way to the stage. Emmett had set up the stereo and speakers, along with a little wireless mic. The video camera he had brought to record the whole night was being manned by Jasper in the back. He handed it to me as I came to the steps leading to the stage. "Good luck, sis."

I nodded and made my way up to the middle of the stage. Watching me was probably the whole town of Forks, including some from Port Angeles and other surrounding towns.

I tapped the microphone nervously, causing some slight feedback. "Sorry," I muttered, mostly to myself. Putting on a smile, I put the mic to my mouth.

"Hello, parents and friends of our dancers!"

Clapping filled the room, along with a few hoots and hollers from the younger people in the crowd. I spotted John sitting in the front row, clapping wildly, wearing a dazzling smile. When he saw me looking at him, he gave me two thumbs up.

"My name is Lisa Freeman, founder of Fork's little dance studio." Another round of applause. I waited until they were done before continuing. "Thank you all for coming out on this extremely important night. I'm sure everyone in this room has seen the anticipation and excitement this night has caused for all the girls. They are all super excited to be able to perform for you tonight."

Pulling out a hand out from my back pocket, I waved it in the air. "Everyone should have gotten

one of these as they walked through the door tonight. On it you will see the list of all the girls dancing tonight, the names of the pieces, and who choreographed them. I would like to give a big shoot out to Esme and Alice Cullen, who helped me start up this studio and helped with dance lessons, and the rest of the Cullens for making this night happen. I'm sure you noticed the exuberant amount of decorations in here." A ripple of laughter went through the crowd. "Alice is the one to thank for that. Without her, this gym would still look like a gym and you wouldn't have any fancy little hand outs." Again there was soft laughter.

"Alright, let's get this started, shall we?" Clapping again ensued and some parents even stood. "The first group coming out is the kinder garden class. They will be performing a piece from The Swan Lake." Wild clapping followed me as I made my way down the stage. In the locker room, everything was dead silent, everyone looking at me with eager expressions. I motioned for the seven girls to go ahead. "Remember," I whispered as they passed by, "Bow after you're done!"

There was the tapping of fourteen little feet as they moved into position on the stage, and then the swell of music. A soft murmur went over the other occupants of the locker room.

"Shh," I reminded them.

Alice moved towards me quietly. "That was a great speech you gave," she whispered into my ear.

"Thanks."

"But you didn't have to say anything about me."

"Of course I did!"

She shook her head. "No, really, you didn't." But she was smiling from ear to ear.

"You'll enjoy it later," I said with a wink.