As always everything belongs to Stephanie Meyers.

16. CEREMONY

As graduation day –a day I had been dreading for a year –finally arrived, tension was building. There were many things happening outside of the actual ceremony. The scheduled party, for what seemed the entire town, was at my family home. Alice organized it, so it would no doubt go off without a hitch. Then there was our impending date with several newborns running wild in Seattle to contend with. My only consolation was that Carlisle would never commit to changing Bella until all issues were settled. Buying me, at the very least, a few more days to come up with another plan. A few more days to do what I hadn't been able to do all year… change her mind.

How would I do that? Change her mind… she was so stubborn and apparently wanted this desperately. Where did that leave me? Having no idea how to accomplish this, I had given it several attempts, but nothing seemed to work. My last resort would be Charlie. He would become my unknown accomplice. Somehow, I would have to manage to slip in her acceptance to Dartmouth today. That ought to do it, or if nothing else, it should buy me a couple more weeks.

This matter had to be handled delicately, bringing up college at the perfect time, purely by coincidence. Slipping it in should be easy, as everyone would be talking about where they were headed after graduating. Somewhere in all this talk, I would accidentally mention our acceptances to Dartmouth while Charlie was in hearing range, it really shouldn't be that difficult.

Alice had gone to Bella's to bring her a new outfit for the ceremony. Alice was always taking care of things such as that. She had bought me a new one too, laying it out on my bed, while I was in the shower. You had to admire her attention to detail, for I would have never thought of such things, but I suppose when you graduate, you ought to have a new outfit.

For Bella, this was a special occasion, it was her first time graduating, and if I had my way, it would be her last time. Unlike us, we've been through this too many times to count, being old hat to us now. Because it was her first time, I was planning to make it marvelous and had big plans for this evening.

Getting dressed for the ceremony that was to take place in a few short hours, I was suddenly struck by sadness. It felt as if I were graduating for the first time too. I had never felt this way and it was disturbing not knowing what was bringing these feeling on. Perhaps it was the fact that this was the first school in a long time where we almost fit in.

Almost.

If not for Bella this would not be true, because of her, I had even managed a few conversations with people. That hadn't happen in many years. I didn't consider these people friends, but in my many years of existence, they were the closest I had come. It would be more difficult saying good-bye to these people, than it ever had been before. What an odd feeling to have.

Once I was dressed, I placed the yellow robe over my arm, and made my way down the stairs to the living room. Carlisle and Esme were gathered around the TV snapping me back to reality. I almost forgot everything that was happening around us, but they were my reminder. As I entered the room, the embarrassment began. I thought we were long past this stuff, but apparently, I was wrong as I was thinking about diving under the sofa, Esme began.

"Oh, Edward. You look so handsome. Stay there, I'm getting my camera."

"Esme, what's the point, you have a hundred pictures, exactly the same," I rolled my eyes.

"No… this time's different… you look different. Please… just stay," she pleaded.

"Fine," I said anxiously.

"She's right, Edward. This time's different. And you do look wonderful," Carlisle offered.

"Thanks," I said embarrassed.

Esme was back with her camera, snapping picture after picture.

"Esme… please that's enough," I shook her away.

"Alright… just one more… smile," she said, as she snapped the last one. "Are you certain you don't want us to come?" she asked.

"No, it's fine, I'm going with Bella and Charlie anyway. Don't worry about it," I answered.

She squeezed a hug out of me before I headed out the door. Proceeding to the garage, where I was certain the harassment would begin all over again, I wanted to make sure our plan was in place. This required me to talk to Rosalie and Emmett, who were out there at the moment.

"So is everything ready?" I asked as I approached.

Emmett whistled, as I knew he would. Although, it was Rosalie who caught me by surprise.

"Edward… you look so… handsome. Wow, Bella sure is lucky," she said, while Emmett and I stared at her bewildered.

"Excuse me…" Emmett said, breaking the silence.

"Oh, shut up. He does," she snapped at him, making me smile.

"Thanks, Rose," I said perplexed.

What was with my family? Had they lost their minds, they had seen me this way plenty of times before, the fuss they were making made no sense.

"Well?" I asked again.

"Well, what?" Emmett responded.

"Are we set… for our trip?" I said rolling my eyes.

"Oh, yeah… that," he replied.

"Yeah… that. Are we?" I asked again, not liking the response I'd gotten so far.

"We'll talk later. Go and enjoy yourself. We'll see when you get back," Rosalie finally gave me a straight answer.

"Alright… I'll see you guys later."

"See you," Emmett said.

Taking off through the forest, I was certain Alice was finished at Bella's and the time to leave was drawing near. Along the way, I was suddenly struck by that gloomy feeling again. Slowing to a walk, I wondered what was wrong with me now? Reflecting on the past year, it became quite apparent that my trips to this house were numbered, and I wasn't fond of that feeling. For the past year a half this trip had become a daily routine, what would happen now? Would I ever make this trip again? Sadden by the fact I may not, I didn't know how to react to such feelings, they had never happened to me before.

Arriving at Bella's house, I lingered in the forest looking up at her window. How I would miss this, standing here watching her through her window. Again, I had an overwhelming sense of loss spread through me. That was until I caught his scent… he was close by.

"Stalking again, bloodsucker?" Jacob asked.

"What's it to you?" I answered.

"It's my job to keep an eye on her," he said smugly.

"No, you're watching the house. I'll take care of her," I growled back.

"Big day… for her," he snarled.

"Yes… it is, now if you don't mind, I have somewhere better to be," I snapped.

"One thing, bloodsucker… I know your plan… just remember the treaty's still in place. One bite… it's all over," Jacob growled.

"I'm quite aware of that. If that's all…"

"That's it. For now."

"Fine. She's waiting… she'll be worried if I'm late. Have fun out here, dog."

Never missing an opportunity to dig the daggers in as far as, they could go.

His thoughts burned my mind, as I walked away. Knowing he was right and I couldn't allow him to know that. He was in deep pain over her transformation, wanting to do anything in his power to stop it. Funny to think we were on the same side, I never thought that would be possible, but here we were. Not that I would ever let him know that I felt the same way, I suppose I haven't totally lost my mind.

I wished I had a more civilized way to handle the dog, but there wasn't, we were mortal enemies and always would be. He was consumed with scenarios of keeping Bella human, none of which was useful to me –she would never accept any of them. They mostly included various ways of getting rid of me and with only a few, where I was permitted to survive, surprising enough. Hearing his painful thoughts almost had me feeling sympathy for him.

Almost.

Making my way to the door, I was anticipating Bella's appearance as the door opened before I had a chance to knock. Bella stood looking more beautiful than ever. She was dressed in blue my favorite color on her making her skin creamy and perfect. Alice had outdone herself this time and I stood there speechless. However there was no time for speeches as Charlie made his way out the door to the police cruiser. Apparently, it was time to leave.

I rode in the back seat behind the fiberglass divider amused by Charlie's thoughts. He had always hoped to see me in this position and even though it was not for the reasons he wished, he enjoyed himself regardless. I was a little amused myself and felt like a criminal knowing what was in store for his daughter. I deserved to be exactly where I was, for the moment.

Bella seemed indifferent and I wasn't certain, but I didn't think it had anything to do with what was happening in the car. There appeared to be something else wrong with her, in fact, she seemed a million miles away. Perhaps, it was the impending events happening this evening because I knew how she loathed being the center of attention. Being in the position I was in now, was hardly the appropriate time to get to the bottom of this, it would have to wait.

Arriving at the school, Charlie opened my door, releasing me from his true desire. Walking over to Bella's door, I helped her out of the car.

"Are you all right?" I whispered.

"Nervous," she answered.

"You are so beautiful," I said, meaning to say more, but was interrupted by Charlie. He shrugged in between us, putting his arm around her shoulders.

"Are you excited?" he asked her.

"Not really," she admitted.

"Bella, this is a big deal. You're graduating from high school. It's the real world for you now. College. Living on your own… You're not my little girl anymore," Charlie chocked up a bit at the end.

The thought crossed my mind for a moment that this would be the perfect opportunity to bring up Dartmouth, but I couldn't, Bella didn't seem right. It wasn't something obvious, but I could tell she was anxious about something, perhaps it was the ceremony.

"Dad," she moaned. "Please don't get all weepy on me."

"Who's weepy?" he growled. "Now, why aren't you excited?"

"I don't know, Dad. I guess it hasn't hit yet or something."

"It's good that Alice is throwing this party. You need something to perk you up," he said.

"Sure. A party's exactly what I need."

What was going on here? She was hiding something, but I was unable to ask her at that moment. Needing a minute alone, I looked around for space, but there was none. How would I get her alone? It was too late. Everyone was heading into the gym for our procession line up.

"Up front, Mr. Cullen," I heard Mr. Varner bark at me.

Quickly kissing Bella I heard Jessica yelling for her. Damn it, I would have to wait until the ceremony was over. As I lined up where I was suppose to I noticed an absence in front of me. Where was Alice? She wouldn't miss this, where was she? I wondered as I looked around.

Watching Bella walk down the line to take her place, the constant babble going on in Jessica's head, made me appreciate that my last name started with a C instead of S, unfortunately for Bella, she had to stand behind her and listen to her ramble. She went on and on about the party tonight, college next year, and her plans for the rest of her life I'm sure, I stopped listening after a minute.

The ceremony dragged on and I was certain it would never end. We marched in as slow as snails. Eric's speech seemed to last for days. Principal Greene started calling names, one after another with a long pause in between. Ms. Cope was all thumbs as she tried to had the principal the right diploma, to hand to the right student. For the love of all that's holy… would this never end, I reflected impatiently, struggling to remain seated.

Grateful when they got to the C's for I would be able to stand. Out of nowhere Alice appeared, danced across the stage to take her diploma, a look of deep concentration on her face. What was that about? Using my extra-hearing, I read her mind, stunned to find she was translating the Battle Hymn of the Republic into Arabic. What was she doing? None of this made sense, this ceremony needed to end, I had to find out what was going on.

Receiving my diploma… I went back to my seat… not followed by Alice… she had left, again. The rest of the ceremony was a blur. I was too preoccupied by what had just happened. It would take Alice plenty to hide something from me, perhaps she found out about our little plan to head to Seattle. Maybe Emmett or Rosalie had slipped, but why would she be saying that? Wouldn't she just scowled me? None of this was making sense and I needed to get out of here to figure out what was going on.

Finally this nightmare of a ceremony ended, I rose from my seat and made my way outside to find Bella.

"Congratulations," I whispered in her ear, my arms winding around her waist.

"Um, thanks."

"You don't look like you're over the nerves yet," I noted.

"Not quite yet," she said skeptically, making wonder what she were hiding from me.

"What's left to worry about? The party? It won't be that horrible."

"You're probably right," she said as she was peering around.

"Who are you looking for?"

"Alice –where is she?"

"She ran out as soon as she had her diploma."

She thought about this for a moment, and it was beginning to make sense. They were in this together. The two of them were hiding something from me… something that would obviously worry me.

"Worrying about Alice?" she asked.

"Err…" I mumbled reluctant to answer.

"What was she thinking about, anyway? To keep you out, I mean."

My eyes flashed down to her face, narrowing in suspicion. "She was translating the Battle Hymn of the Republic into Arabic, actually. When she finished that, she moved on to Korean sigh language."

She laughed nervously. "I suppose that would keep her head busy enough."

"You know what she's hiding from me," I accused.

"Sure," she smiled a weak smile. "I'm the one who came up with it."

I waited, confused.

She looked around, looking for Charlie.

"Knowing Alice," she whispered in a rush, "she'll probably try to keep this from you until after the party. But since I'm all for the party being canceled –well, don't go berserk, regardless, okay? It's always better to know as much as possible. It has to help somehow?"

She had better get on with this, my patience were being stretch very thin.

"What are you talking about?"

"Just stay calm, okay?"

I nodded once, tightening my jaw.

In a hurry, she whispered her reasoning to me. "I think you're wrong about things coming at us from all sides. I think it's mostly coming at us from one side… and I think it's coming at me, really. It's all connected, it has to be. It's just one person who's messing with Alice's visions. The stranger in my room was a test, to see if someone could get around her. It's got to be the same one who keeps changing his mind, and the newborns, and stealing my clothes –all of it goes together. My scent is for them."

Listening intently, it was making sense, not that I wanted it to.

"But no one's coming for you, don't you see? This is good –Esme and Alice and Carlisle, no one wants to hurt them!"

My eyes were wide as panic spread threw me, she was right, everything she was saying was right. What would I do with this information?

She put her hand on my cheek. "Calm," she pleaded.

"Bella!" Charlie crowed, pushing his way past the close-packed families around us.

"Congratulations, baby!" He was still yelling, even though he was right at her ear. He wrapped his arms around her shuffling me off to the side as he did. I stood stunned, first that Alice and her would keep this from me, secondly, that she was the target. Knowing that made me more anxious. That changed everything. I needed to be home and wanted to get out of here, I had things to prepare for. Charlie was still speaking as I picked out a question directed at me.

"You coming, too, Edward?"

"No, thank you," I said stiffly, unable to rearrange my face, anger poured out.

"Do you have plans with your parents?" Charlie asked his voice barely audible to me.

"Yes. If you'll excuse me…"

Turning abruptly, I stalked away through the dwindling crowd. Moving a little too fast, I was too upset to keep up my charade, if anyone were watching they would notice right away that something was wrong. Luckily for me, everyone was too interested in commiserating this proud moment in their lives to notice. Needing to escape I ducked into the forest where I could be alone.

Running through the forest, the anger was building. How could they not tell me? Am I such a tyrant, they feel the need to hide these things from me? For Alice to go to all the trouble of keeping her head jumbled up so I couldn't hear anything was intolerable. Why would she do that?

Anger ripped through me as I thought of them two feeling the need to lie to me. Where had I gone wrong? Coming to a halt, suddenly wished I had take up that new hobby –the one with the sledgehammer –again. Fury spun threw me like a tornado and I needed somewhere to depose of it. Looking around I found exactly what I was looking for, I moved toward a small tree. Grabbing hold of it, I ripped it out the ground, throwing it across the forest smashing it against a bigger tree, splitting it in two. Subsiding some of the anger that had built up, it wasn't enough. Anger was still pouring out of me.

Standing still to gather my thoughts, cocking my head to the side, a rustling caught my attention. Whatever it was it was headed straight for me. Bracing myself, I was hoping it was our unwanted visitor, than this whole nightmare would be over. Unfortunately, it was an unwanted visitor, just the wrong kind. Catching a whiff of the predator coming my way, it was Jacob. What was he doing here? Now was not a good time to see him.

Within a few seconds his running came to halt, changing into a human a few feet out, he knew it was me. Walking out of the trees, he stood twenty feet away, arms folded across his chest, with an alarming expression on his face.

"You know, you could try to make my job easier," he announced.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I snapped.

"Touchy, aren't we? You and Bella fighting?" he asked hopeful.

"None of your business, dog. Now once again, what are you doing here?"

"I'm doing my job, could you be any noisier? It sounded like an earthquake, watching this whole area would be easier if you would help. Like not taking me away from my duties to check on the temper tantrum you're having," he explained.

"Sorry… just relieving some tension. I forgot you were out here. It won't happen again," I said.

"It's okay. Bella has a way of doing that to us," he answered, in a friendly tone.

That puzzled me… Jacob was anything but friendly. Rummaging through his head –as he would phrase it –there was real sincerity there. I wondered what kind of game he was playing, I wasn't about to get involved in it as I had enough to worry about.

"Have you come across anything new?" I asked.

"No. Nothing yet," he said, sourly.

"I never did thank you for doing this, so thank you," I offered.

"Let's get one thing straight, I'm not doing this for you. Everything I do is for Bella, I know this disturbs you, but too bad. If I get my way, she'll remain the same old Bella forever. So there's no need to thank me," he said with an edge to his voice.

"I know how much you care… I'm sorry, I know how much you love her. I see it in your head. But know this, I am grateful for what you've done, no matter who it was for, it protects her and that is all I care about. Her safety is the most important thing. So once again, thank you, Jacob Black, I owe you, more than you can imagine. For as much as you love her, I love her more, you can't imagine that, but it's true," I said honestly.

Not certain why, but I felt the need to be honest with him. Perhaps, it was because he couldn't hide anything from me, I knew all there was to know about Jacob's feelings for Bella. Maybe, it was just a male thing, I wasn't sure, but I felt the need to declare my love for her to him, not that he could understand, or even want to, for that matter. To him I was now and would always be his enemy and would never be good enough for Bella.

My last statement was running through his mind, he was curious to know why I would share this information with him. He stood confused for a moment wondering if this was some kind of trick.

"If I wanted you dead… you'd be dead, Jacob. This isn't some kind of trick. I just wanted you to know where I stood," I explained.

"Stop that," he shouted.

"Sorry, it's unavoidable sometimes. Especially around an… enemy… such as yourself. Forgive me for being rude," I answered.

"So you never did tell me why you were out here beating up the defenseless forestry?" he asked.

"And I'm not about to," I answered politely.

"If this has anything thing to do with…" I cut him off.

"It doesn't… well, not directly."

"What does that mean? If you're hiding something, you might as well tell me, I'll find out sooner or later," he pushed the subject further.

Reluctantly I answered. "I was upset over a theory Bella came up with," I said.

"What theory?" he asked.

"She thinks our visitor is after her specifically. One motive… to kill… Bella," I said with a grim face.

"The red head?" Jacob asked.

"Yes," I unwillingly answered.

"Well, that helps a little bit, at least now we know what were looking for," he thought.

"Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but I have to get back," I said.

"Yeah, me too. Oh and stop taking your frustrations out on the poor forest," he added as he turned and ran off.

He was right, as I looked at the destruction I had caused. It was hardly fair of me to ruin two perfectly good trees because of my anger. Anger, that apparently disappeared in the last few minutes. How strange it was that Jacob, who usually caused the anger, would suddenly make it vanish. Could things get any stranger?

Having two people who were suppose to love me, lying to me, and one person who literally hated me, calming me down. Where had my life taken such a turn that this would happen? It was good the wolves knew what we were looking for, perhaps it would be that much easier to find it. That did make my anxiety lessen a little bit, having that many sets of eyes –and nose's for that matter –keeping watch.

It was time to return to Bella, now that my anger was completely gone. She would be finishing dinner with Charlie about now, and I wanted to be there to follow them to my house. Leaving her unprotected, even for the shortest period was unacceptable, she needed to be watched at all times. Now that we think they were after her, she could never be left alone again. Running off in the direction of the lodge, Charlie's favorite food establishment, I arrived in the forest near the parking lot, with a view of Charlie's police car.

Waiting patiently, Bella would be out very soon and as estimated, she moseyed out of the building alone. Leave it to her to be wandering around an empty parking lot alone, never realizing the danger she was in. Moving toward her, too quickly apparently, she gasped, as she turned and saw me.

Without a word, I pulled her tightly against my chest. One hand found her chin, pulling her face up so that I was able to press my lips to hers.

"How are you?" she asked as soon as I let her breathe.

"Not so great," I murmured. "But I've got a handle on myself. I'm sorry that I lost it back there."

"My fault. I should have waited to tell you."

"No," I disagreed. "This is something I needed to know. I can't believe I didn't see it!"

"You've got a lot on your mind."

"And you don't?"

Abruptly kissing her again, I couldn't get enough, but this would have to last me for a few minutes. "Charlie's on his way."

"I'll have him drop me at your house."

"I'll follow you there."

"That's not really necessary," she attempted to say, but I had already vanished.

Charlie started the cruiser and headed for my house. Following along beside them in the forest, I could have eves-dropped on their conversation, but honestly, I didn't want to hear the ramblings of Charlie putting me down. Instead, I hummed Bella's lullaby in my mind to tune out Charlie's thoughts and their conversation.

Arriving at the highway that led to my house, I thought they were about to miss the driveway, but leave it to Alice to make certain that no one missed the driveway. She'd put up lights on the trees out front, lighting up the entire entrance. Running ahead, I ducked behind the trees near my front door, waiting for Bella.

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