"Hey," Alice said, making Bella jump.

Bella muttered a word not often produced by her lips, and tried to slow the frantic beating of her heart. Looking at Alice, she saw her friend holding a garment bag out to her.

"How—?" Bella asked, frowning.

"Oh," Alice said, "No. Not what you're thinking. I'm just intimately acquainted with the contents of your wardrobe." Here it was her turn to frown, but in the direction of Bella's closet. "Gonna try it on?"

"Uh, sure," Bella said, still a bit numbed by Alice's sudden, and unexpected appearance. The contents of said, and now clearly maligned wardrobe, were largely laid out on her bed, and she'd been standing there for the better part of a half hour, trying to figure out which item to wear. What did one wear to graduation? Not that it mattered, Bella supposed. The yellow robe would be the only thing visible.

Alice unzipped the bag, revealing a simple blouse and skirt. Both were a tasteful blue. Bella didn't think twice about slipping off her t-shirt in front of Alice, but the sudden intake of air from her friend made her stop, mid-way, the cotton jersey hiked part way up her back.

Crap, Bella thought.

There were more startled thoughts in Alice's mind.

Jacob's idiotic moves had left a trail of bruises up the contours of her spine, and a distinct, hand-shaped one purpling around her upper arm.

The softly growled "who?" was menacing from Alice's lips. Her hand shot out to take Bella's arm, eerily gentle, inspecting the damage. When Bella didn't say anything, she repeated her question.

"It's nothing," Bella said, and shook her head. Just Jacob, being an idiot. Her cheeks flushed at the memory. Her anger hadn't faded.

"Like hell it isn't," Alice said, but handing her the shirt. "Someone hurt you. Friends don't let stuff like that slide, Bella. Have you at least told Charlie?"

"No," she said, shaking her head again. She'd come home fuming mad, leaving Charlie with a curt, worrying and surly goodnight.

Alice was watching her move, eyeing the bruises, gauging the force needed for them. She ran through the candidates available, and wasn't long in coming to a logical conclusion.

"Jacob," she spat out.

The intensifying of Bella's blush only confirmed it.

Alice shook her head, angry and rattled. The Cullens knew what the wolves were capable of. Had seen their fresh work on Emily's face. There had been others in their time before.

But Bella, no. This just could not happen. She couldn't let this happen—

"I told him, Alice," Bella sighed, sitting down, buttoning the blouse. "He...wanted, well," the crimson in her cheeks swelled again.

Alice could well imagine what he wanted, and she purposefully kept her facial features loose, and unarranged.

"Understood. And?"

"I told him I would be changed," Bella finished, this time in a small voice.

"What?" Alice said, her voice a ghost of itself. She became utterly still.

There was a clenching knot inside Bella's stomach. She'd been so angry in the last few days, she'd managed to keep the deeper implications and worries of her stupid move at bay.

"I'm sorry," she said, "I know I shouldn't—"

"It's fine," Alice reassured her. It really wasn't, but it was graduation night, and she wasn't going to let this moment be marred by the squabbling of the supernatural creatures in her life.

Not on her watch, no.

Besides, nothing was going to ruin the surprise graduation party she'd planned for Bella.

Nothing.

Not even a pack of wolves.

It might complicate it, though, seeing as the one in question had been invited.

"It's better," Alice said placatingly, "in some ways, that they know now. It'll give them time to come to grips with it." Or, interfere with it, she thought silently.

She would need to prepare the rest of the family.

"Everything will be fine, Bella," Alice said gently. She added, more fiercely, "and Jacob won't hurt you again."

The knot in her stomach became a flame of terror, would Alice do something? Or worse, tell Edward?

Bella grabbed Alice's arm with a force that left her fingers stinging, "You can't tell anyone about the bruises." Her voice was low, tremulous. She could imagine, all too clearly, the dangerous and violent reaction to such information.

Alice groaned, hands over her face. "Bella," she said, "if I try to keep it from my thoughts, he'll know I'm keeping something from him, and he'll go digging. When—not if—he finds out I've kept this from him, he will do something dangerous. It'll be better if I just tell him. Besides, I'll need to tell the family that the wolves know." She paused, watching her. "I'm sorry," she said, a cold hand on Bella's knee, "I know you want your life to just be your own right now, but—"

"It's fine," Bella said, parotting Alice's words back to her. "I get it, I just—" Her heart was thumping, each beat a painful stab, knowing this would hurt and torment him. She tried to shake off the emotion in her voice. "Please tell him I'm fine. I bruise easily—"

"Bella," Alice said, still gentle, "don't worry about Edward. I'll handle it, OK?"

Bella nodded worriedly, frowning, trying not to let the tears manifest. Of all the nights to let things get to her.

"Deep breaths," Alice reminded her, voice lighter. "And," she said, "seeing as I'm here, want me to do your make-up?" It would give her a chance to strategize before telling her family.

Before telling Edward.

This made Bella groan herself, but good naturedly.

"Please?" Alice said, "You know I'll make you look fabulous."

Alice was happy to see a chuckle replace the worry she'd heard in Bella's voice. "Sure, thanks."

When she was ready, Alice disappeared, and Bella emerged from her room, startling Charlie with her appearance. "Wow, you look great!" he said.

"Thanks," Bella mumbled uncertainly. She was trying not to be nervous about graduation, and trying, not successfully, to avoid being nervous about what Alice would be telling the rest of the Cullens.

"Excited?" Charlie asked, grabbing his keys.

"Nervous," Bella answered. "Worried I'm going to trip getting my diploma." She smiled a little at this, trying to tell him she would do her best to avoid it.

"Well," Charlie said, "don't think they stop you from graduating if you do, so I wouldn't worry about it."

They didn't talk on the way there. Bella would have liked to say it was a comfortable silence, but it wasn't. Her anxiety grew, and by the time they got there, she was perspiring nervously.

"Knock'em dead, kiddo," Charlie said by way of farewell, waving airily as he walked away.

Bella could have sworn his voice was thick with emotion, but she was too rattled to be sure.

She could see Edward, Jasper and Alice at a distance, but their faces were perfect masks of human contentment. They gave nothing away.

Jessica's mindless, and endless prattle gave her a thin distraction with which to preoccupy her mind. No response was necessary to her commentary; it just served to fill the space around them. When Bella received her diploma, and walked across the stage, she felt a strange sense of blurred accomplishment.

It was done.

What she didn't expect though, was to hear Jacob's voice, raised in loud whoops, over the rest of the audience.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up under the sweaty polyester of the gown as she descended the stairs and returned to the seat.

If Alice had already told them, and he and Edward found each other—

Alice turned to look and smile at her, several rows ahead. Her smile was soft and genuine. She was trying to reassure her. A sudden wave of calm descended, and Bella felt the worry slip away, the emotion gone, but her mind still turning circles on itself, trying to find a way to manage things.

When the last celebratory shouts had gone up from the graduates, and the thrown caps had scattered about them, Bella made her way quickly to Charlie, who was standing by Billy Black.

"Congrats sweetie," Charlie said, leaning in to kiss her.

"Thanks Dad," she said softly, worriedly now. She seemed to be out of range of Jasper, and this made her panic more. Was he with Jacob?

"Was that Jacob I heard?" she asked Billy.

"Yup," he said, "kinda embarrassing, huh?" He smiled widely, hiding his own anxiety. He didn't know for sure where Jacob was, but he had a pretty good idea.

"Where is he?" Bella asked, eschewing all pretense.

"Said he was hot. Wanted some air," Billy answered, turning his head towards the exit.

Charlie was waving to the Newtons, inviting them over.

"Think I might too, 'K Dad?" Bella said. "Catch you in minute?"

"Sure," Charlie said distractedly, remarkably social for himself.

Outside, Bella didn't bother scanning the parking lot, but headed straight for the treeline, straining to hear the sounds she was searching for.

Jasper was there, instantly. "Not a good idea, Bella," he said gently.

"Move," she said, going to push past him, but he blocked her.

She huffed out an angry breath, ending it with a shrieked: "JACOB AND EDWARD!"

Jasper's hand was over her mouth instantly. "Don't. Draw. Attention." he hissed. It was the cardinal Cullen rule.

But the noise of the crowd outside the gym was loud enough that her voice hadn't gathered notice.

It had, however, drawn the attention it was intended to, and Bella heard what she needed to, which was Jacob's raised voice, "What are you doing to her?"

She moved in the direction of it, Jasper shadowing her movements.

What she saw terrified her even more.

Edward, his hand at Jacob's throat, had him pressed back into a tree.

"Do it!" Jacob hissed through his compressed larynx, "Beat me up. Mangle me. Let her see what you really are!"

"Better than you," Edward shot back. "You hurt her!"

"Go ahead!" Jacob urged him, "Do it!" His eyes flamed, and Bella's heart beat frantically, wondering why he wasn't shifting.

Then she realized why.

He was doing an excellent job being an idiot.

"His thoughts are very clear, Bella," Edward said, "he's shown me exactly what he did, and he wants me to hurt him so he can attack, and stop us before you're changed. I'm of a mind to oblige him."

His face was a perfect replica of the one he wore when Demitri had moved towards Bella in Italy. She could see so very clearly that all his protective instincts were roused.

He was trying to protect her.

From being changed.

Still.

"Please let him go," she said softly. "And please stop fighting, both of you."

Her voice had cracked, all the emotion of the last few days too much to hold in, and now, topped with Edward's repeated desire to keep her human.

Her doubt blossomed, watered and nourished by Edward's blind stubbornness.

"Please," she said again.

Edward had already released Jacob, coming to Bella's side, anxious at what he heard in her voice. His hand was extended, reaching for her.

"No," she said, moving away. "Don't." She turned, and walked away, knowing someone followed. She didn't care who. She was just done with their stupidity, the hurt they had both wrought with it, and their utter indifference to what she wanted.

"It's just me," Emmett said, surprising her, making her stop and look, now at the treeline.

"Happy graduation?" he tried, smiling apologetically.

The ridiculousness of it made Bella snort out a laugh and a cry. Emmett opened his arms, only a few inches away, and Bella buried her face in his chest, letting the tears come. After a bit, she asked, "why are some boys so stupid, Emmett?" It came out muffled against his shirt.

He chuckled half-heartedly, "glad it's just some. Uh, lots of practise?" he suggested. When she looked up at him, shaking her head, letting a small smile blossom on her lips, he patted her back lightly, "come on, Alice is hissing at me to get you to her so she can fix your make-up. Think Charlie's looking for you."

Alice was indeed waiting nearby, supplies in hand, a worried expression on her face. "I'm sorry, Bella," she said.

"You're not responsible for what other people do, Alice," she said, "I'm just glad it wasn't worse."

Alice smiled weakly, dabbing at Bella's face, removing the smudged make-up, and replacing it. "There," she said, "you're decent."

"Thank you," Bella said, "I'm going to go find Charlie. Have a good night," she finished.

As she walked away, Emmett looked at Alice, both eyebrows up, "you didn't tell her about tonight, did you?"

Alice shook her head. "I don't think she's going to be happy, either way." She cursed herself again for her promise. What was more human than a graduation party? A surprise one at that? But, knowing Bella, she'd known it could backfire. She just hadn't planned on it being primed to, quite so spectacularly.

Edward couldn't exactly disappear for this party, purportedly thrown by Charlie and the Cullens.

No, Alice thought with a sigh. He couldn't.

"And it surprises you, Alice, that a surprise party might not go well?" Edward said, appearing beside her.

"Not with you acting like your supposed age, no," she said icily, "it won't."

She let his hand rest on her shoulder. "You know what she is to me, Alice. You can pretend, all you want, for Bella's sake, that there can be this separation, but you know. Don't make as if you can do otherwise with me. Don't expect otherwise."

"I don't expect you to love her any less, Edward, I just expect you to think rationally before you pull stupid stunts like that. You endangered all of us tonight."

"I was perfectly in control," he growled back.

"Yes, almost taking the head off of Ephraim Black's heir. Yes. Perfect control."

"He hurt her." This snarl was unmistakable, and Alice took a wise step backwards.

"Yes," she said, "he did, and you've hurt her more, doing exactly what she didn't you to do. Way to go protecting your mate."

She ended the conversation there, disappearing in the direction of the house.

Bella and Charlie were on their way to dinner by this point, Charlie a little perturbed at her silence. "You find Jake?" he asked, having heard from Billy that "something" had happened between them, Billy feigning ignorance as to what.

"Yeah," she lied, "told him thanks for coming. Saw some other friends too."

She was glad of the twilight. It hid her blush, as she turned her face to look out the passenger side window. It was then that she realized they were taking the wrong road to be heading to dinner. "Um, Dad?"

"Yup," he said, a little nervously.

"You're going the wrong way."

"Nope," he answered, "Esme invited us for dinner. Kinda insisted, actually." The rising flush at his neck marked this as an utter falsehood, and Bella's face froze in horror.

What had Alice planned?

"Dad," she said, "I hate surprises. Don't."

He squirmed a bit in his seat, shifting his weight under the seat belt. He stole a sideways glance at her. "Might have mentioned having a graduation party, too," he mumbled.

"Dad, turn around." She put her face in her hands for the second time that night.

"Com'on Bells, it's just a party. They're going it for all their kids, and Esme's missed you a bunch, not having you around…" he'd hoped this would smooth things over, but clearly, he was off the mark. She was breathing through her nose, clearly trying to get herself together.

He got it, on some level. He hated surprises too.

"I'm sure...Edward will be respectful and everything." He was sure of no such thing, and had expressed this concern to Esme, who had told him they'd make sure there were lots of other people there to dilute any possibility for this particular social interaction.

Yes, respectful enough to nearly kill...hurt? maim? her...she was about to think 'best friend', but settled on 'good friend'...who had issues with boundaries…yes, what could possibly go wrong?

Bella suffered the rest of the drive, hands gripping the vinyl upholstery, slippery with sweat.

She had a stab of empathy for Edward, and his feeling towards Jacob. She was feeling, she was sure, exactly the same way about Alice: betrayed. Ready to kill.

"Now," Charlie mumbled to himself, "I never know where the turnoff is, she said it would be—whoa!"

There was no missing the turnoff tonight. It was lit by trees, every other one up the drive sparkling with lights.

Crap.

She might as well make the word her motto.

Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap.

When Charlie pulled up to the house, he didn't get out.

"Wait, you're coming, right?"

He cleared his throat. "Uh, no. It's a party. For you all." Bella stared at him. "Esme and Carlisle'll be there. All above board. Call me when you're ready to come home."

Bella moved to get back in the car.

"Bella," Charlie said, a warning note in his voice. "Go, have fun. Be with your friends."

"Go be with my ex? Thanks Dad, awesome," she grumbled.

It didn't help when Charlie smiled at this description. Then he reached over and closed the passenger door, waving as he drove away.

She watched him leave, breathing in slowly, trying to calm the angry pounding of her heart.

"Bella?" a crystal voice called, soft and alluring.

Her body tensed, recognizing it, responding to it.

Edward.

"Can we talk?" he asked.

Disclaimer: S. Meyer owns Twilight. No copyright infringement intended.