XXXII. She's got Beauty and Brains

After school, I found myself sprawled on a picnic blanket, gazing up at the dim, overcast sky intercepted by the rustling branches above me. My feet were tucked into Jessica's lap as she redid the polish on my toenails. The pedicure Alice had given me over a week ago had begun to chip, and Jess would not stand for it.

As expected, Jessica was delighted by all the wedding plans I'd been telling her about. "That is so romantic," she sighed and then wondered, "What are Edward's cousins like?"

I smirked. "Well…the resemblance is uncanny."

"So they're drop dead gorgeous? Ugh, some people have all the luck in the world," she lamented.

"Looks aren't everything, Jess."

"Says the girl with Edward Cullen as her boyfriend!"

I belted a sharp laugh. "Touché."

"Okay, so they're beautiful," she continued, "If they're anything like Rosalie Hale, I guess there's not a whole lot more to say."

"They're not. And Rosalie has a lot of walls up―I'm not sure we'll ever actually be friends."

"…You talked to her?"

"I did," I sighed, shoving aside a strand of hair fluttering against my face. "She's complicated in the way that results from trauma. I don't know that she'll ever heal from it, but at least we're not at each other's throats any more."

Jessica hummed. "I guess being a foster kid isn't all it's cracked up to be."

"Not at all. As for their cousins…I like them. I think you'd get along with Irina. She's very bubbly and as much of a romantic as you," I snickered.

"Oh, I bet she loves all this then! I can't wait for each of us to get married," she cheered. "You'll definitely be my maid of honor!"

My smile dimmed. Fortunately, she was too focused on my toes to notice. "Ditto."

"What about the bride?"

"Oh. Kate?" I snorted. "She's just doing this for the sake of her older sister, Tanya. If it were up to her, she would've eloped with Garrett and been out of the country by now. She's being a good sport about it though."

"What? That's lame," Jess stuck out her tongue. "How can a girl not want a big, extravagant wedding?"

"Beats me," I shrugged. "I definitely want one of those cascading bouquets―"

"―and a big puffy dress―"

"―and lots of flowers everywhere―"

"―and a tiara―"

"―and a big chocolate cake," I grinned.

"Ooh, what kind of cake are you guys having?"

The wild animal kind? "I have no idea about the food," I fibbed. "Esme is in charge of all that."

"You better save me a slice!"

"Don't get your hopes up," I rolled my eyes.

"It's fine," she sniffed. "It's not like you bailed on me for a whole week. Why would I expect even a slice of cake as atonement? I'm obviously asking for too much."

I propped myself up on my elbows. "Oh, I'm sorry, your highness. Did you nearly die from the lack of attention?"

"Obviously! Look at my complexion, Isabella. I'm so pasty, I could pass for a corpse!"

I snorted. "Not nearly. And where was Mike this whole week?"

"Track season is starting in a few weeks, so he was mostly at tryouts," she said.

"Oh. How is everything with him?" I was surprised she hadn't started gushing at the mention of his name.

"…It's the same," her smile turned sad. "I don't know, there was so much drama sophomore year, and I thought this was finally our year. But I'm the same, and he's the same, and it's okay. But it's not what I wanted."

That threw me for the loop. "Sophomore year?" I wiggled my toes. The once shimmery pink nail beds were now a sparkly sky blue.

"Here, can you do my nails?"

I sat up, taking the brush in one hand, and Jessica's hand in the other.

"Sorry, sometimes it feels like you've been here since forever," she laughed sheepishly. "But Mike and I were on and off all of sophomore year. Mostly off, if I'm being realistic. Especially when Lauren was dating him."

"Lauren dated him? Why?" It was hard to imagine. Unlike Tyler, Mike seemed too laidback to keep up with someone as demanding as Lauren. Sometimes, I thought Tyler liked playing games even more than her.

"Because she could."

I wrinkled my nose. "Remind me, Jess―why are you friends with her?"

"Habit," she admitted. "After I moved out here from Texas, Lauren was the first to talk to me. She was my first friend."

"Huh."

I swiped the brush across her thumbnail with one last coat, before picking up her other hand. "Are you going to break up with him, then?"

"What? No way," she said. "The dance is in less than two weeks. That would be terrible timing."

"It's not like there aren't other guys who wouldn't say yes to you," I pointed out, shooting her an exasperated look.

"Have you seen the amount of guys in our grade?" Jessica shook her head. "Slim pickings, Isabella. No way am I going with an underclassman, and senior girls have dibs on the guys in their grade."

"You could always go solo?"

Jess shot me a look of disgust. "Over my dead body."

I laughed. "It's not so bad, going places by yourself and being comfortable with it. It's actually very liberating."

She arched an accusing eyebrow. "Isabella. Everyone―including the Cullens of all people―has been vying for your attention since the moment you got here. I'm not sure you can relate."

I guess that's what comes with being the protagonist of my own storybook. "It wasn't always like that."

Jessica didn't look like she believed me. But before I could elaborate, my cellphone rang.

"Hold up," I said, capping the bottle of nail polish and setting it to the side, before digging out the small device from my back pocket and flipping it open. "Hello?"

"Isabella! It is you! How are you, pop tart girl?"

I blanched. "How the hell did you get my number?!"

"I had the good luck of running into your cute friend Riley, yesterday. I didn't know you two were still high school students! It's a shame. I would've loved to meet up with you in person."

"Well, you can't," I replied flatly, mentally cursing Riley. "What do you want?"

Serena giggled, "To compare notes with my fellow vamp gal! Now, where should we start? Admittedly, I haven't seen Angelo in a while. I think what I miss most about him, is his cold embrace. Isn't there something that's so uniquely comforting about it?"

I eyed Jessica's curious expression and then replied, "Look, Serena. Now is really not a good time."

"Oops. Did I interrupt? Sorry, Izzy! I'll call you at a better time!"

Before I could tell her I didn't want her calling me at all, the line went dead.

I lowered my phone and scowled, wishing I'd thought to check the caller ID before answering. I already had enough on my plate without adding even more supernatural characters into my life. Especially ones that weren't canon to the story.

As expected, it didn't take long for Jessica to pounce. "Who is Serena?! You so did not look happy! What's the story?"

I rolled my eyes. "Let me finish up your nails," I reminded her instead.

Jessica lifted her hand back up, but bore her gaze into me, as though trying to compel me to spill the beans.

"You do realize," I said, as I swiped polish across the nail of her middle finger. "You cannot tell anyone about this. Charlie would…well, I don't know what he'd actually do. But my social life would be over as I know it." Charlie wasn't very strict or nosy about what I got up to, unless I wasn't coming home for the night. It made my relationship with him easier. But I'm not sure how I would react the moment he started treating me like a kid on a more permanent basis.

Jessica's blue eyes sparkled. "I swear it on my life!"

"You better," I sighed. "Because as far as he knows, I was having a sleepover with Alice and her cousins this weekend. In reality, I was in Oregon, visiting some friends."

"Oregon?!" Jess practically shrieked. "You drove all the way to Oregon?!"

"Hush up, before your mom comes out here," I grumbled. "And I didn't. Edward gave me a ride. You actually think my truck would survive the journey?"

"You visited another state with Edward?! That's so cool! But your dad would totally kill you if he found out!" she said with a gleeful grin.

"Yes, exactly my point, Jess," I huffed. "Anyway, nothing scandalous happened. He just dropped me off, and then came to pick me back up. But when I was hanging out at a college party with my friend Riley, we met this girl, Serena."

"You're friends with a college girl? Who you met at a college party?" she gasped. "Could your life be any more charmed? Ugh, I'm so jealous!"

Try being on the vampire hit list first, and then tell me how charmed my life is. "She insists on being friends," I wrinkled my nose. "Honestly, I thought it was the alcohol talking. But then she tracked Riley down so she could get my number. She's so weird."

Apparently, Jessica disagreed. "You must've made a good impression, Isabella! Most people can't help but like you!"

"If you say so," I reluctantly agreed. It was hard to argue, when it was Bella's face that attracted so much attention in this backwater town. And it was impossible to explain that it wasn't me who'd made the impression, but Edward's scent on me.

"You have to take advantage!" Jess continued enthusiastically. "She's in college. I bet she'll have loads of advice!"

"I'll think about it," I stalled.

"Ooh, did you tour the campus? What was it like?"

I did my best to describe the campus and what I learned on the impromptu tour Riley and I had taken. Jessica squeezed every detail from me as though I were a lemon, and even more so, when I told her what the college party was like. Apparently, it wasn't too different from the types of parties Tyler occasionally hosted.

It was when I'd finished painting a clear top coat on her nails, that my phone pinged with a text notification.

"Ugh, I hope it isn't her," I muttered, but when I flipped the phone open, it was to find a nonsensical text from Edward.

If you'd prefer, tell him I've invited you to dinner.

I blinked.

And then, my phone rang―a call from the police station.

"Whoa. She's calling back already? I thought college students were supposed to be more busy than this," Jessica snarked and blew gently on her nails.

"It's not Serena," I said, and then answered the call. "Chief?"

"Isabella," Charlie's voice echoed cheerfully from the other end. "The Clearwater's invited us and the Black's over for dinner, so don't bother preparing anything for tonight."

"Oh, how nice of them." Great. Probably another ploy by Billy to corner me.

"You'll be able to make it by six?"

"Actually…" And then, I realized the purpose behind Edward's text. "Edward invited me out to dinner. I know it's a bit last minute, but would that be alright?"

"Oh," Charlie paused for a second. "I guess that's fine. But don't stay out late. It's a school night."

I smirked. "Wouldn't dream of it, chief."

As soon as I ended the call, Jess pointed an accusing finger at me.

"You never said anything about going on a date with Edward tonight!"

"He literally just texted me about it like two seconds ago," I laughed and glanced down when my phone pinged again.

May I pick you up in five minutes?

Yes. Can't wait :)

After Edward picked me up, we began the drive out to Port Angeles.

I chatted a little about hanging out with Jess, but when I noticed his distracted nods, I said instead, "Alright, out with it. Just what are you dying to know?"

Edward smirked. "Everything."

"Could you be any more ambiguous?" I rolled my eyes. "Let's see―what was it you asked earlier? How old I was?"

He drummed his fingers against the steering wheel. "I have a theory about that, actually."

My eyebrows shot up. "…Let's hear it then."

Edward peeked at me from the corner of his eyes. "At the very least, you're twenty-five?"

My jaw dropped.

"May I assume I'm correct?"

"Well…well yeah," I stammered. "How on earth did you guess?"

Edward frowned. "…I hope you won't be upset. There's a lot that I also haven't shared with you."

I shifted in my seat, turning more fully to face him. "How can I be? It took me this long to even tell you the truth." It had been foolish of me to assume his side of the story had followed Midnight Sun beyond the first chapter or two. I'd made a complete mess of the plot. It would only follow that Edward now had a different story to tell.

"Do you recall when you were in the hospital and you had those CT scans taken?"

"Of course." That was the protocol for any sort of brain injury. Fortunately, Edward's interference had ensured that I'd only gotten a mere bump on the head, instead of being crushed grotesquely underneath Tyler's van.

Edward hesitated, before confessing, "Carlisle lied. There was nothing normal about those x-rays."

"…What do you mean?"

"At a first glance, parts of your brain were abnormal," he explained, "And our initial thought was that you might have some sort of neurodegenerative disease."

"Neurodegenerative?" I repeated slowly, "Like Alzheimer's or Parkinson's?"

"Yes," he said. "But that didn't make any sense. Those parts of your brain were actually more mature than they should have been. And the parts that weren't would've pointed to a neurodegenerative disease in an older person."

"…What did it mean in my case?"

"It meant areas of your brain were maturing at an accelerated rate," he explained. "If we weren't positive that I hadn't endangered our secret, it's likely Carlisle would've taken you in for further testing. Those parts of your brain pointed to near full maturity. At the time, it was unprecedented."

I blinked and tried to wrap my head around what he'd just revealed. "…Wow. There was never any real hope, was there?"

"Any hope for what?"

"Avoiding attention," I shrugged. "I've always been lousy at keeping secrets, but this definitely takes the cake. My own brain scans gave me away."

"I suppose you're right," Edward chuckled.

"Is that why you kept asking me so many questions the rest of that week?" At the time, I had assumed it was because he was confident I wasn't a danger to their secret. Instead, he must have been curious about what I was hiding.

"Yes. Although you weren't easy to talk to at the time," he admitted. "I'm hoping we can remedy that now."

I smiled. "Ask away."

A/N: Happy anniversary, guys! That's right, a year and over a 100K later, and I'm still working on this story. That's mostly thanks to you guys. Seriously, thank you to all my new and old readers. I wouldn't still be sticking it out if it weren't for you :3

In celebration, I shall provide a gift! Pick one of the options listed below, and I will write the winner for you as soon as possible:

1. For my readers of The Sea in Between, I will write a follow-up chapter of the latest segment, in which the Cullens react to Edward sneaking into Isabella's room :0 (Idea credited to AnimeLover229)

2. For my readers of Whirlpools and Sinking Skeletons, I will finally write chapter 2 of Edward's POV.

3. Mystery! (Clue: A fun scene that will be included in the main story.)

I, of course, will eventually get around to writing the first two options (maybe). But I'll prioritize whichever y'all pick!

Anyway, let me know what y'all thought of the chapter, and your vote, and I will update soonish! :)