Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, just my own characters.

Renesmee Cullen

Ugh. School.

Why am I here?

It was Wednesday. Middle of the week and I was attending my 4th period.

I didn't mind school. In fact, I enjoyed it a lot and thrived in it. But I had so much on my mind today to even care about it right now. I just wanted to leave for the day, for the week…forever!

Not to mention, today was Jacob's birthday. I had a lot to do.

He was still at work and would be working late. Thankfully.

That meant I had more time to execute the perfect day for him.

I had been planning to celebrate his birthday for months but I had so much I wanted to do that I didn't know what to do or where to start but I finally reached a compromise.

I will be doing a bit of everything I had planned for him in my head for today.

I know. Very daunting.

Why am I doing this to myself?

Because you love your man, Nessie! You wanna give him a night to remember. I told myself.

I had only two days to prepare everything for today. I have already done so much but I feel like I'm far from being done.

I wished I had skipped school altogether today but my dad wouldn't let that happen. He can only tolerate so much of my angst. My mom probably would've let me off if she had her way because she knew what I was going through but my dad still was the authority figure and he valued my education.

Can't say I'm surprised, the guy had over a 100 years' worth of experience.

It was English class with Mr. Worthington. I was pretending to read my book as I sat in my chair with my books in front of me but my mind was somewhere totally different.

The other kids were still busy with the research assignment Mr. Worthington had given to them – one I had finished in less than 20 minutes because I did the assignment when I was homeschooled.

"Lance, please work harder next time. You're a senior now. You can't be fooling around." Mr. Worthington reproached as he handed out our graded tests back from last week.

"Yes, Mr. Worthington." Lance sighed.

Mr. Worthington shook his head and then approached my desk with a big smile.

"Ah. Ms. Cullen," He said, gesturing to the top paper in his good hand –because his right arm was missing.

I took it and gave it a look.

I got an A.

I wasn't surprised at all. English was the one subject I excelled in most over every other subject which is a tall order because I averaged straight A's and one occasional B in all my subjects to not make it obvious.

"Beautiful work as always." He commend me with a confident smile.

I smiled sheepishly. "Thank you, sir."

"No, thank you." He murmured in his thick British accent. "You have an impeccable command for the English language and your research is very thorough, you always put a lot of thought in it and speak so eloquently in your words and sentences. You're also very argumentative and interrogative in the appropriate areas. You ever thought of becoming a writer?"

If I brashly admit, I had a lot of talents due to being a gifted vampire hybrid and writing was one of them. I was probably going to be in college a lot of times in my life so I could literally pursue anything my heart's desire.

But for my first college and adult experience, I wanted to pursue the things I loved.

My grandfather and my dad were both in the medical field and naturally it was something I considered for myself but now I'm thinking about putting that off for much later and doing something I will enjoy doing now.

"I'm planning on double majoring in journalism and the arts." I told him.

He nodded.

"A double major." He spoke.

"I double majored at Cambridge as well, and got my honors at Oxford. I am sure you will excel in both fields. Good work. Keep it up." He told me, tapping my shoulder with the pile of papers in his hands.

I giggled and smiled back. "Thank you so much,"

He nodded and with that he was off handing papers to the rest of the class.

I skimmed through the entire class and halted as I gazed at Felicity whose eyes briefly met mine before turning her attention back to her work.

I sighed.

It was incredibly awkward between us since Monday.

We had almost all our classes together and she's managed to avoid me in every one of them.

I was determined to give her the space she need though.

But I couldn't forget the fact that she knows about my secret and I had no inkling on what she intends to do with the information.

I spun my head to Alex who was seated across from me.

"Alex," I murmured, flicking my pen against her arm.

She turned to me with a frown.

"I think we need to talk to the guys." I said.

She glanced back over at Felicity then back at me.

"About Felicity?" She whispered back.

"About everything," I replied.

She sighed, pursing her lips together as she drifted off into a train of thought as she deliberated.

She then nodded.

"Okay," She replied back.

The period ended and Alex and I were heading over to lunch period to meet with Justin and Luke to talk.

"We're meeting them at the bleachers –" I informed Alex –strolling through the halls – when I collided into someone's body.

I heard the sound of books fall down the floor with a loud thud.

"I am so sorry!" A high-pitched voice of panic ensued as I watched a small girl bend down to retrieve my books and her own.

I scoffed. "It's okay," I replied as I bent down to help her.

"I'm such a klutz! Sorry!" She slated herself.

"Stop apologizing. It's okay! It happens to all of us." I chuckled lightly at the evidently anxiety-prone girl.

She looked up to meet my eyes as she gathered her books and gasped.

"Renesmee Cullen?! I bumped into thee Renesmee Cullen?" She mentioned breathlessly.

I furrowed my eyebrows.

What's so special about me?

"Now I feel even more embarrassed." She bemoaned as she shot up. "I am sorry –" She stopped herself.

I laughed, raising an eyebrow.

"Sorry – I'll stop apologizing. I'm sorry." She muttered in frustration as she closed her glistening eyes.

Alex stared at her with confusion.

The petite, adorable Asian-American girl looked tiny compared to me. I was just about 5`7 whereas she looked no taller than 5`2, maybe 5`3.

I smiled politely at the girl.

"This is yours," I said, handing her book.

She nervously took it and placed the books against her chest squeamishly.

"If I had known I would've bumped into the most popular girl in school I would've probably dressed better and be more graceful." She told me.

Oh wow.

Well that was flattering.

I never thought of myself as a popular girl. Maybe I was. I don't know. I always thought that many people were well-known in school for different things. Good and bad.

I never considered myself the most popular girl in school though. That title still belonged to Felicity.

Or more recently, Melissa St. Clair.

I giggled. "What's your name?" I asked the girl.

She immediately bulged her eyes in shock.

"You wanna know my name?" She muttered, although it was more of a question to herself.

Alex sniggered beside me.

She probably found the girl abnormally odd.

Which she was.

"I'm Gina Chung!" She said, shooting her hand at me.

I gladly shook it. "Gina Chung? Doesn't sound familiar. I haven't seen you around here. Are you new here?"

"Well…kind of. I came here at the start of the school year after leaving Sunset High Prep School." She told me.

I nodded.

She grinned as she extended her hand to Alex who just stared at the hand and reluctantly shook it.

"Alex Mazzola! Huge fan!" Gina replied.

Alex cocked her eyebrows. "Oh. Wish I could say the same."

I nudged her arm.

"Pleasure to meet you," Alex added.

Gina grinned back widely.

"You're a senior?" I asked.

"Yep!" She replied. "We have Biology, Arabic's, Calculus and Geography together. I'm very quiet though so I'm not surprised you don't know me."

I frowned. "It must be rough transferring schools in your senior year."

She shrugged. "Well – Yes – But I've gotten used to it. I move around a lot in the system."

"The system?" Alex probed me quietly.

"Um…It was really nice meeting you girls. Sorry again for bumping into you. Ugh! There I go again. Stupid me." She chuckled nervously.

I smiled with a closed-lip.

"Okay! Bye!" Gina waved back before sauntering off.

I snorted. "No comment," I chuckled as I hooked my arm around Alex.

"Weirdo," She remarked.

She was really nice though.

… …

We met with the boys at the bleachers in the field during lunch period to talk.

"Okay, so Felicity knows?" Justin asked us, although looking directly at me.

"She knows about my secret, I don't think she knows about yours." I replied.

"But she's smart. If she knows about vampires, she'll probably put two and two together and figure it all out." Alex stated.

Luke sighed. "How would she know?"

I shrugged. "So many possibilities. For one, she was attacked by a vampire last year."

"But she didn't remember that night," Luke said.

"Clearly she does now."

"Are we really calling our old psychotic History teacher Charles a vampire?" Justin questioned.

He was right.

Charles wasn't just a vampire.

He was something else.

An angel.

A demon.

"He's definitely something." Alex said. "And he's probably out there wreaking havoc somewhere else."

Justin began nervously tapping her foot on the bleacher and fidgeting with his fingernails. This was his nervous tick. I remembered this whenever we dated.

He was afraid.

"We also think someone could've told her. Someone we know. Someone like Jennifer." I added.

Luke cocked his eyebrow. "No. It can't be Jennifer. How would she know?"

I stared at Alex who just shrugged her shoulder up and down at me.

We did promise to tell them everything if we're gonna ask for their help moving forward.

I sighed, scratching the nape of my neck.

"Jennifer's sort of a vampire." I revealed.

Luke gasped. "Wait – What?"

I nodded.

Justin's eyes bulged. "No wonder, I've had an off feeling about her."

"I always thought she was a sweet hot girl, now I find out she's a bloodthirsty sweet hot girl?" Luke probed. "That actually makes her even hotter."

"She's not a full vampire though, right? I would've picked it up in her scent and her scent is still human-like." Justin inquired.

I shook my head. "She's like me. A hybrid."

"But why would she expose you like that when she's like you?"

"Maybe she's trying to get at me or something. I don't know." I replied.

"We also have another theory." Alex introduced.

Justin and Luke turned to her.

"Cassia." She pointed out.

Justin and Luke exchanged a look.

"We think this could be all part of Cassia's plan to infiltrate our circle or something. Ray did say she was a master schemer who we would never see coming." I said.

I locked eyes with Justin. I could see the nervous look on his face tinged with frustration and fear. This wasn't something he's had to deal with yet.

"We need to stop that from happening. We need divine intervention." Alex stated.

"Okay, so how do we do that?"

"Well for starters, I think we need to all stick together. We can't afford to be apart because that's when Cassia can strike at any moment. Remember the story Ray told us about his family? His family worked best when they worked together. It is safety in numbers."

"They were also killed by Cassia when they were together." Luke replied morbidly.

"Shh! You weren't there when he told the story. So shut up!" Alex snarled.

Luke sighed as he pressed his lips together in a thin line and kept quiet.

"Shouldn't Rea be here as well?" Justin asked.

"I don't know what's going on with Rea. She's been avoiding all of us ever since the school year started."

"Well, that's not entirely true," Luke dropped on us.

We darted our heads to him and urged him to continue.

He sighed. "Rea and I regularly see each other afterschool. I help her with her schoolwork and she helps me with photography. I'm busy with a…project I wish to not disclose yet."

"You're not secretly dating, are you?" Alex laughed.

Luke gagged. "Ew! What? No!"

I wasn't entirely convinced. I think Rea liked Luke secretly and has probably had feelings for him for a very long time. He was too gullible to see it.

Or he was too blinded by his long-suffering infatuation for Felicity.

"What else?" Justin asked.

"We're gonna need your help investigating on Cassia. We need you to talk to Ray, ask him more questions about Cassia. Alex and I will try to dig into the Oakland Woods archives on more about Cassandra Humphrey. We know she was a frequent attender at Debutante Balls in the 17th, 18th and 19th century."

"How do you propose you do that?"

"Well, dad's part of the Town Council committee." Alex told her brother.

"What makes you think he'll help us? Dad doesn't want us to be in any part of it." He uttered.

"True! But we've still got someone on the inside and we'll probably work from that."

Justin frowned. "You're not thinking of attending the elitist event are you?"

Alex shrugged. "If it's the only way we can find out more about Cassia, then yeah, I'll do it."

Justin sighed. "Okay. We'll help you."

I smiled crookedly at him as our eyes met.

His eyes were still the warm and kind eyes that I knew and liked the first time we met. I don't regret how things ended between us but I wished things worked out differently. If we had just been friends then there wouldn't be this awkward energy between us.

He smiled back sincerely.

The bell rang suddenly.

I glanced at my wristwatch.

11:45.

I needed to get going. I needed to get ready.

I precipitously pushed away every stress I had throughout the day to focus one major stress that's been bugging me all day long.

Jacob's birthday.

"I gotta go. Alex, you ready?"

Alex turned to me with a frown. "Wait – You're leaving school now?!"

I nodded. "You're gonna help me prepare for that thing tonight, remember?"

She scoffed. "I didn't think we're gonna skip the rest of the school day though."

"But you skip school all the time," I expressed.

"Yeah, when I was a junior. I'm a senior now! I can't afford to skip any more classes if I wanna graduate. Plus my Econ teacher will have my head for dinner if I don't show up to his class which is like right now." She groaned, tossing her bag's tassel over her shoulder.

"Don't you have a free period today?"

I swear she told me she had free periods.

"No!" She laughed. "We're not all like you. We don't get multiple free periods because we get straight A's in all our classes."

I pouted my bottom lip.

I needed someone to help me get a few last minute things at the store and now that Alex isn't gonna be available, I instantly regretted not taking the entire day off to plan the day better. Screw my dad!

"I can only help you afterschool." She told me. "Sorry,"

I sighed in disappointment.

"What are you guys talking about?" Luke quizzed.

I looked to Justin who looked to be just as curious to know the answer.

"I've got major errands to run?" I didn't know why it came out as a question because it was true.

"I can help you," Justin offered. "I've got PE next and my 7th period is free anyway."

"Are you sure?" I asked.

He nodded. "Positive,"

I smiled. "Thank you. I really appreciate it."

"Okay, now if that's settled. I better get to class. I'll help you at around 2:30 pm. I've got a thing with that person afterschool."

I frowned at Alex. "What thing?"

She raised an eyebrow at me, hoping I'd catch on.

I did.

She was talking about Seth.

"Oh! That thing with that…person! Got it." I nodded.

"You girls need to stop speaking in code! It's freaking me out." Luke remarked as he hopped off the bleachers.

I snickered. "I'll see you guys later," I waved goodbye to Alex and Luke.

"Bye, Ness." Luke replied before he and Alex strolled to their next classes.

Justin and I stared at each other for a short while before standing in awkward silence, staring out our surroundings.

We both laughed after a while of ridiculously making the situation uncomfortable for the both of us.

"You know, you don't have to come with. I probably could have managed alone anyway." I said, although I didn't wanna sound unappreciative. "I do appreciate you coming though."

He chuckled. "It's okay. School is stressful as is. Might as well take my mind off it for a few hours."

I smiled, adjusting the straps of my bag on my shoulder and I grasped the dangling strap as we began ambling to the parking lot.

"Alex tells me you're planning on going to UC, Berkley?" I asked.

"If my grades will allow, yes." He chuckled. "Or UC, Davis. Whichever."

I nodded.

"And you're going to Columbia?" He asked.

"Still waiting on the acceptance letter." I answered.

"I'm sure you'll get the letter soon. They'd be foolish not to let you in." He told me.

My cheeks flushed and I sheepishly smiled.

"So what are you doing that's gonna take you away from school?"

Did I want to make it awkward by telling him it was about Jacob?

As I deliberated to tell him, I suddenly got the feeling we were being watched.

I examined our surroundings, darting my head every which way. It was windy today.

"What is it?" He asked.

I hummed. "Nothing,"

Justin opened the field gate open that led directly to the parking lot and gestured for me to walk through.

"Thanks. Um…" I began. "Well today is Jacob's birthday and I wanted to do something special for him."

"Oh," Justin simply replied.

"If this is gonna be weird –" I said.

He quickly dismissed me.

"No! There's zero weirdness. You and Jacob are great together. I see that now." He told me as we reached my car.

"Really?" I inquired, with furrowed eyebrows as I opened my car.

This was the very first time he'd acknowledged my relationship with Jacob. I don't mean to sound conceited but I always thought he found it hard to move past our breakup over a year ago.

I wouldn't blame him if he found it weird though.

I got over our breakup pretty quickly and got with Jacob less than a few days later. Of course he didn't know that but he knew Jake and I were close and I'm sure he put the puzzles together soon enough.

"Look," He paused as he held onto my car door.

"I know you and I would have never worked out. I tried to ignore it but I knew you loved Jacob even when we were together. I didn't exactly know in what way, I don't even think you understood your feelings for him at the time yet but it was pretty obvious you couldn't live without him. You could live without me but not Jacob."

"Justin…" I muttered, although I didn't trust my words afterwards because what he said wasn't wrong at all.

"It took me a while to come to grips with it but I am truly happy for you, Ness. And I'm glad I was a piece in your love story."

"You weren't just a piece, Justin. Truly, I did care for you. I didn't use you or anything like that." I smiled, poking his chest playfully.

He smiled. "I know."

"And I've told you this before, you will find that person for you. She's out there somewhere waiting for you. She may be close, she may be far but she's there. She exists. And you'll be happy." I reassured him.

He nodded. "Appreciate that," He told me.

"You'll follow me?" I asked. He nodded. "Let's go," I replied, hopping into my car.

I made a few trips to a few places. There was a few things I needed to pick up at the Arts and Crafts shop which I asked Justin to pick up for me whilst I passed by the hardware store to get tools.

After that, Justin and I met up at the grocery where I shopped for things I needed for tonight's dinner.

"Show me this list you've got," Justin asked me as we waltzed down the aisles.

I dug into my handbag and pulled out the checklist I had with all I had planned for today.

"Wow! This is a long check list." He scoffed.

I rolled my eyes, taking two packets of strand and ribbon spaghetti, a packet of stuffed pasta and puff pastry off the shelves.

"Aw! That's an adorable gift." Justin laughed, pointing to one of the gifts I had for him.

I smiled. "You think? I thought it was too cheesy."

"I love it!" He chuckled.

"Thank you, I actually put a lot more thought into that gift than the others."

"You're telling me you managed to get all these gifts in time for his birthday?" He quizzed me.

He looked at me with a blank face. He probably thought I was crazy.

"Most of everything on the list I've had planned for a long time." I told him.

He breathed out a heavy sigh. "Boy, how are you gonna top next year's birthday?"

I laughed as I grabbed the tray of ground beef mince from the cooler and tossed it into the cart.

"I'm up for the challenge." I told him. "My first gift is already sent to his work. Hopefully he got it."

As if on cue, I felt my phone vibrate in my handbag as I received a text. I pulled it out to see a message from none other than Jacob.

Oh baby! I just received your gift. U made my day! I love it, babe. Thanks ;).

Jacob

I grinned widely as I excitedly jumped up, patting Justin's arm vigorously and showed Justin the message.

He mimicked my delight.

"Cool!" He laughed.

"One gift was an absolute success!" I said.

He smiled as he pulled out a pen and ticked a box for me.

After shopping for the last minute items, Justin helped me carry the bags and boxes up Jake's apartment complex.

"Thanks again for your help. I appreciate it." I acknowledged.

"Don't sweat it." He replied back.

I stumbled for the spare key Jacob gave me to his apartment months ago and opened the door to see everything I ordered had arrived as I had planned.

Perfect.

"Wow!" Justin remarked, entering the apartment behind me. "You truly are going all out for his birthday."

"You don't think this is too much right?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Uh…It's very thoughtful."

"It's too much." I confirmed.

His expression was confirmation enough for me.

I knew it!

This is precisely what I was afraid of.

"No – No. It's not. I'm just a little jealous. I've always wanted a recliner." He told me.

I scoffed nervously. I ordered a few things online with the help of Alice who managed to have everything delivered on time. Embry took part of his lunch break off to help move everything into the apartment whilst Mike kept Jake occupied at work. It was a team effort getting Jake's birthday event ready in such a short space of time.

A pretty hefty mission but I was glad it seemed to work out smoothly.

"Before you go, could you help me with something? I hope you're good with your hands?" I asked Justin.

Justin smiled and nodded.

"Sure!"

Justin and I quickly got to work after setting all the bought items on the floor. Alex would come over later to help me cook.

I wanted to show how special Jacob was to me. I wanted to make him feel special and loved –the way he makes me feel every day. I wanted his 25th birthday to be a day he remembered for years to come.

… …

Jacob Black

I arrived at work this morning to a squadron of birthday wishes from my fellow colleagues. There were about 14 of us who worked at the autoshop and sometime around lunchtime they all gathered around me to cheers to me.

"Happy birthday, dude!" Trevor mentioned as we clinked our beers together.

Our boss only allowed us to drink once on the job and that was whenever one of us had a birthday. It wasn't a restrictive environment working here. We were given an appropriate amount of freedom to do what we want, as long as it didn't disrupt with our work.

"Thanks man." I answered genuinely, patting his shoulder.

"Hey, Jake!" Mike exclaimed out as he appeared after Embry left the autoshop to do something I never thought to ask.

I spun around to see him approaching me with a big, decoratively wrapped gift basket of what looked like an array of interesting goods.

"Look what just arrived for you." He scoffed as he set it on the table.

"Hmm," I hummed, taking a look at the plastic covered gift basket and found a big card neatly tucked behind it.

I snatched it from the basket and opened the envelope to see a goofy wolf in a birthday party hat, a party horn in its mouth and balloons everywhere around him. I laughed at the inside joke only I –and I guess Embry – knew.

I flipped open the card to begin reading the wonderfully penned message.

Dear, Jacob

I tried to get you the moon for your birthday but then I realized we didn't have any space for it in your apartment. So for today I'll just give you this gift basket. It's much more practical.

It took me a while to come up with the best way to mark your big 25th birthday and I thought this is a start.

Today I get to celebrate the one person who knows me better than anyone and still chooses to love me and my stubborn ways. Thank you for your unconditional love and patience with me. I am lucky to have you in my life.

You get more handsome every day. Believe me! Would I ever lie to you on your birthday? I didn't think so…

You are my partner, my love, my life, my inspiration and my Jacob. I am still so over the moon for you. Happy birthday, baby.

Love, Nessie.

P.S: This isn't your only gift! You have something more waiting for you at home ;).

I couldn't contain the glee on my face as I read the heartfelt card message from my Nessie.

"What does it say?" Grant asked me.

"It's a present from my girl." I told him with a happy smile.

The boys all howled.

I rolled my eyes, but laughed along.

"Look at the man blush!" Sheldon roared as he and the guys laughed at me.

"Shut up!" I growled, pointing my finger at him.

"He's totally blushing!"

"The man is whipped!"

I shook my head and gave them the middle finger.

Mike snatched the card from my grasp and I narrowed my eyes at him in a deep glare to which he laughed at.

"Let's see what little girly said about big ole' Jakey." He chuckled, backing up to the guys who circled him.

They altogether cooed teasingly as they began reading the card.

"Ooh! This ain't your only gift? I wonder what else is waiting for you at home. Hmm?" JP teased, cocking an eyebrow.

They all erupted in a chorus of 'oohs' and 'ahhs' as they dissected the card.

"Jakey's getting lucky tonight." Dwayne mentioned.

"Birthday sex!" Mike screeched, earning a glare from our boss who was on the phone in his office.

I apologized with a shrug and then turned to the guys making fun of me.

"You've had your fun. Give that back! That isn't funny." I warned, although I was grinning.

They all laughed at me as Mike handed me the card back and they soon left me alone to look at my gift basket.

As I unraveled the present, I saw an array of various little gifts neatly inserted in the square hamper. She got me a grooming kit, a tech kit, a My Hydro Custom Water Bottle, a stainless steel mug, a wireless charger and wireless headsets, a sweatshirt with a selfie of Nessie and I blotted onto it, a keychain with another selfie of us, packets of chips and two expensive bottles of champagne and whiskey.

Many of these were practical things. They were gifts I've actually always wanted and would love to use while I'm busy with work or other pursuits. She clearly put a lot of thought into putting this all together.

I smiled.

God. What did I do to deserve her?

I pulled my phone out to text her my thanks.

Oh baby! I just received your gift. U made my day! I love it, babe. Thanks ;). I sent.

Mike tapped my shoulder. "This girl really loves you, dude."

I scoffed. "She sure does."

I loved her even more.

A/N: Please review if you like this story!