Author Note: Thanks for the great response to the last chapter! I updated twice last week, but FF has been wonky with alerts, so if you didn't see both chapters, please go read and review now! I replied to all reviews last chapter, but you may have to go into your Inbox directly to see the replies.

Teasers for guessing the chapter title from Men at Work go to: Angellovee, garddita17, raidershell, LunaEclipse17, AbruptlyChagrined, 2old4fanfic, 0 BASIA 0, sherylb, OWT, Azlady2003, and MissyDy.

Thanks again to moosals for pre-reading. Stephenie Meyer owns all characters.

Chapter 5 – Who Can It Be Now?

"Tell me again why I need to buy a new dress for prom when I have a perfectly good homecoming dress that no one at school has seen?" I grumble as Alice leads me into the Camille La Vie store at the nearest mall. The place is huge, full of rack after rack of formal or semi-formal dresses.

"Your dress is navy blue," she retorts. "That's a Fall color. It's Spring."

I roll my eyes, dutifully following her to the nearest rack. Despite spending the last two months looking online for dresses, Alice hasn't found one yet, so we're looking for both of us.

"This one would be pretty with your skin tone," Alice says, holding up a long, jade green dress with a beaded top.

"It looks like it would fit a girl who's 6-foot-3," I complain. Seriously, it would be impossible for me to find heels high enough that I wouldn't be tripping over the bottom of it. It also very much reminds me of the color of Mr. Cullen's eyes, and that just won't do.

"Fine. Maybe we should look over here," Alice says, pointing toward a rack full of nude-colored dresses. "Blush or champagne dresses are really in this year."

"How do you know that?" I ask, following Alice to the rack in question.

She turns around, mouth gaping as she stares at me. "Don't you watch the Oscars red carpet? Light neutrals were the popular colors this year. I should've invited you to come over and watch me with me; Oscar night is one of my favorite nights of the year."

I laugh. "For a girl who wants to be known for her brains and talent, you sure are into fashion."

"Clothes say a lot about a person," Alice replies seriously. "A woman who's well-dressed will always earn more respect that one who dresses like a slob. Didn't you ever watch What Not to Wear? God, that was my favorite show." She sighs dreamily, making me laugh again.

Two hours later, after trying on nearly two dozen dresses, Alice has finally chosen a gold dress with hundreds of sequins on the top, an open back, and a flowing skirt. It's beautiful and looks great on her figure, though at $450, it's about $250 more than I'd ever spend on a dress to wear just once. She swears she can wear it again though, as the whole family attends formal fundraising dinners for her mom's charity.

There's no way I'd buy most of the dresses in the store; I'm sticking to my guns about a $200 maximum price. Just when I'm about to give up, Alice finds a dress with a high-neck black top and a long champagne tulle skirt that makes it "on trend." The back is open enough that I wouldn't be able to wear a bra, but otherwise it doesn't show too much skin. And it's only $170. I agree to buy it only so that I don't have to deal with being dragged to even more stores.

"This is gonna be so great," Alice squeals as we walk out of the store, dresses draped over our arms. "You only go to one senior prom."

"That's what Angela said when she dragged me to homecoming," I laugh.

"Didn't you have a good time?" she asks, holding the door for me.

"I did," I admit, remembering how I'd gotten to know Mr. Cullen better that night. Or at least I'd thought I had.

On May 22, the day every child longs for — their high school graduation — finally comes.

Our graduation ceremony begins at 7pm, so we've made reservations for an early dinner at Maggiano's for family-style Italian with Alice's and Jake's families. Dad has driven down from Chicago for the occasion, and I hug him tightly when he arrives at the restaurant.

"I'm so proud of you," he says, looking like he might cry.

"Thanks, Dad," I smile, hugging him again.

I'm pleased when Dad and Phil shake hands. There's really no animosity between my parents anymore. I know Dad was upset when Mom was given custody 16 years ago, but he understood that fathers don't have much of a chance unless they can prove neglect or abuse.

I happily introduce Dad to my two best friends once we're seated. "So you're the reason my daughter will only be spending six weeks with me this summer, huh?" he says, looking at Alice.

I laugh at her deer-in-headlights expression. "He's just teasing you," I assure her.

Alice has signed the two of us up to spend all of June working with two Habitat for Humanity youth programs. We'll drive out to Colorado for the first two weeks, helping build homes in a valley in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains that experienced a devastating flood in 2013. Then we'll travel to Taos, New Mexico, a tourist town where 90% of the locals can't afford a home.

I don't know the slightest thing about building homes, but Alice shamed me into it by pointing out that 90-year-old Jimmy Carter still volunteers for Habitat for Humanity. She also participated last summer and assures me that I'll both learn a lot and have fun.

"It's a great opportunity, Mr. Swan," she replies. "Not only are we helping people in need, but it'll look good on our resumes one day."

"Alice plans to go into politics," I explain to my dad. "Look for her to be running for president in about 25 years," I laugh.

Alice narrows her eyes. "You laugh now, but you won't be laughing when I name you as my Press Secretary."

"Oh, right," I can't help chuckling again.

After much begging from Alice, I've agreed to attend the University of Missouri—St. Louis with her and Jake. I'll be majoring in Communications, with an English minor. It seemed slightly more practical than a pure English major. And being employable after college is what it's all about, of course. Unless I meet an independently wealthy Prince Charming at UMSL and become a stay-at-home wife where I can read all day.

After the graduation ceremony at the Chaifetz Arena, I take my dad to a St. Louis tradition, Ted Drewes, for frozen custard. It's not quite their busy season yet, but the weather is nice and the parking lot is full, even at 9:30 at night.

I laugh at Dad's expression when he's handed his "concrete" — frozen custard so thick, the workers can turn it upside down and it won't drip out of the cup.

"You seem happy," he says between bites. "I've gotta admit, I thought you'd miss your friends from Chicago."

"I do miss them," I stress, "but Alice and Jake are great."

"And they're going to the same school, you said?"

"Yeah," I nod. "Alice will be majoring in Political Science, and Jake is studying Accounting. He got a scholarship to play basketball. He's good, but not good enough for one of the bigger schools."

"Are you planning to stay with your mom and Phil?" Dad asks.

"The three of us would like to get an apartment together that's closer to campus. Mom isn't really on board yet, but I think if this summer goes well, she'll be convinced," I smile. "It took me forever to make up my mind on where to go and what to study, but UMSL's Communications program is ranked fifth in the country."

"Well, it looks like I made the right decision to let you come here."

I nod. "And I made the right decision in accepting Mom's offer. These last five months have been really good for me, Dad. I've grown a lot. In a way, it was just like going off to college early, but I've met some great new people. Alice's family is so wealthy that she could really do anything she wants, but instead of being some debutante, she wants to make a real difference in the world. I think… she's rubbing off on me, in a good way."

"You girls will be careful out there in — where is it, Colorado?"

"Colorado and then New Mexico," I answer. "And of course we will! Last year, Alice went to Jackson, Wyoming, though her parents insisted on coming with her and vacationing nearby, just in case she got into trouble. As much as I complained to her that I don't know anything about building homes, I think it's a great opportunity."

"And you're still coming to visit after the Fourth of July?" he asks, tossing his empty cup into the trash.

"You bet."

By the time I drive back to Chicago for a long visit with Dad, I'm feeling so enriched from my experience working with Habitat for Humanity. Alice is already talking about doing it again next summer, potentially traveling to South America or Asia on a project. I'm more interested in one of the youth program options in Hawaii.

Of course one of the first things I do when I get back to Chicago is call Angela. We text often and I even FaceTimed her from Colorado. I'd love it if she could go along with Alice and me next year, regardless of where we end up going.

"Oh my God, you've got a tan," she jokes, hugging me tightly as we meet at a café for lunch. It's so good to see Ang again.

"You should've seen it a week ago when I got back to St. Louis," I giggle. "That's what happens when you spend four weeks working outside in the hot sun, even with the bottle of sunscreen I went through each week."

"I still can't believe your dad was cool with you doing that."

"I'm an adult; he doesn't get a say," I shrug. "But really he just told me to be careful."

"You know, we really missed you at graduation. Well, all semester, actually, but especially then. It just felt wrong for you to not be following Jessica up on stage."

"I know," I sigh. "It would've been great to graduate with you guys, but leaving was the right decision."

"Is your dad's case finished now?" Angela asks, sipping her drink.

"Oh… yeah, it finished up in May," I lie. "Just in time for him to be able to come to St. Louis to see me get my diploma. Which reminds me… I wish I could've seen your valedictorian speech in person instead of having to rely on your mom's less-than-stellar video skills!"

"Yeah," she laughs. "Mom blamed the tall guy sitting in front of her."

"Have I missed anything else big in the last six months?" I ask curiously.

"Hmmmm… well, I probably texted you whenever anything happened," she laughs. "Oh, wait, maybe I forgot to mention that Mr. Cullen completed his PhD back in March. He'd been an ever bigger dick than usual up until that point, but after he completed it, he seemed to move one notch closer to being a human being. I imagine the whole defending your work thing was stressful, but still."

"So is he leaving Lincoln Park?" I ask, eyes wide.

"I don't know," she shrugs. "I asked him just before classes ended if he had a new job lined up at a university, and he said no. I did find out at some point that his wife works at one of the art museums in Chicago. He may be limited to positions in town if she doesn't want to leave her job."

"Yeah, I'd imagine so," I murmur, barely listening. Why, after all these months, does just the mention of Mr. Cullen's name send me deep into my memories of him?

"I think he missed you," Angela says, and I look up at her in shock. She can't know anything, can she?

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"Just… he liked you. And me. Because we did well in his class. I think he was irritated at being down one star performer," she chuckles.

I try to smile, but it probably comes out like a grimace.

"Seriously though, he did ask about you a few times," Angela continues. "I told him you were doing well."

Not wanting talk of Mr. Cullen to ruin my appetite, I change the subject. "So how are things going with Ben?" I know they started dating after Winter Break.

Her blush gives her away. "Ben is just… I think he's the boy I'm going to marry one day," she replies, a goofy grin on her face.

"So it's serious?" I exclaim. I'm so happy for her. If anyone deserves happiness, it's Angela.

"Yeah," she smiles. "We've said the L word and all that. I'm disappointed that we aren't going to school together, but he's staying in Chicago at least, at U of I."

"That's so awesome. Ben has always seemed like a really nice guy."

"He's the best! But you didn't meet anyone in St. Louis? What about that Jake guy you mentioned a few times?"

"Jake is a great guy, but… Ben is more his type."

"Oh," she giggles.

"With everyone going off to different schools in the fall, I just didn't see the point, you know? But I'm looking forward to college boys," I grin.

My dad has been saving up for my college expenses for my entire life, though on a public servant's salary, all he could manage to accumulate was enough for a state school. I'd always planned to get college loans for the rest, but thanks to my mom's guilt over never being there for me, she and Phil have agreed to pay for my living expenses for the next few years. Instead of living at home or in a dorm, I move into an off-campus apartment with Alice and Jake in mid-August, before classes at UMSL start on the 21st.

Thanks to my AP credits, I'm well on my way to being considered a sophomore. With an extra class here or there, I could potentially graduate a year early.

I'm only taking one Interpersonal Communications class in my major, with the rest core courses or electives. I pretty much hate all math and science classes, but seeing as taking at least one science class is a requirement for my degree, I thought I could at least choose something fun, like Astronomy, to go along with Calculus and US Civilization.

My AP English course transferred as Topics in Literature, leaving me free to sign up for a higher level literature class this semester. I chose English Literature after 1790, with classes meeting Wednesdays and Fridays from 11 to 12:15. I'm really excited about it.

Finding the Literature classroom on the first day, I choose an open seat toward the middle of the room and settle in, pulling out my notebook and a copy of the first book that we were assigned to read.

I'm reading a text message from Angela on my phone when I hear the door close. Hurriedly putting my phone away in my purse, I gasp as I look up at the professor as he walks toward his desk.

No! No, it can't be, but from his profile, the man who's about to teach this class looks an awful lot like…

"Good morning," he greets us in a voice that sounds awfully familiar, "I'm Professor Cullen."

A/N: So Bella went to her senior prom, graduated from high school, spent four weeks helping with Habitat for Humanity, then went back to Chicago to spend some time with her Dad and old friends. She still can't keep Mr. Cullen out of her head… and according to Angela, he may have the same problem.

But she's got an even bigger problem now that classes have started.

Next update on Thursday. I really hope FF has fixed its shit by then.

For a teaser: A #1 power ballad by a (sorta) hair band. It's what Bella is saying to herself now… besides "oh fuck."