was the right thing. He was 
being responsible." 

"Responsible," I repeated scathingly, rolling my eyes. "Right. So, what about Jacob?" 

The careless question repeated inside my head, anything but trivial. What about Jacob? What 
was I going to do about him? My former best friend who was now . . . what? My enemy? I 
cringed. 

Charlie's face was suddenly wary. "Don't get mad at me, okay?" 

"Mad?" 

"Well, it's about Edward, too." 

My eyes narrowed. 

Charlie's voice got gruffer. "I let him in the house, don't I?" 

 

"You do," I admitted. "For brief periods of time. Of course, you might let me out of the house 
for brief periods now and then, too," I continued - only jokingly; I knew I was on lockdown 
for the duration of the school year. "I've been pretty good lately." 

"Well, that's kind of where I was heading with this. . . ." And then Charlie's face stretched 
into an unexpected eye-crinkling grin; for a second he looked twenty years younger. 

I saw a dim glimmer of possibility in that smile, but I proceeded slowly. "I'm confused, Dad. 
Are we talking about Jacob, or Edward, or me being grounded?" 

The grin flashed again. "Sort of all three." 

"And how do they relate?" I asked, cautious. 

"Okay." He sighed, raising his hands as if in surrender. "So I'm thinking maybe you deserve a 
parole for good behavior. For a teenager, you're amazingly non-whiney." 

My voice and eyebrows shot up. "Seriously? I'm free?" 

Where was this coming from? I'd been positive I would be under house arrest until I actually 
moved out, and Edward hadn't picked up any wavering in Charlie's thoughts. . . . 

Charlie held up one finger. "Conditionally." 

The enthusiasm vanished. "Fantastic," I groaned. 

"Bella, this is more of a request than a demand, okay? You're free. But I'm hoping you'll use 
that freedom . . . judiciously." 

"What does that mean?" 

He sighed again. "I know you're satisfied to spend all of your time with Edward -" 

"I spend time with Alice, too," I interjected. Edward's sister had no hours of visitation; she 
came and went as she pleased. Charlie was putty in her capable hands. 

"That's true," he said. "But you have other friends besides the Cullens, Bella. Or you used 
to." 

We stared at each other for a long moment. 

"When was the last time you spoke to Angela Weber?" he threw at me. 

"Friday at lunch," I answered immediately. 

Before Edward's return, my school friends had polarized into two groups. I liked to think of 
those groups as good vs. evil. Us and them worked, too. The good guys were Angela, her 
steady boyfriend Ben Cheney, and Mike Newton; these three had all very generously 

 

forgiven me for going crazy when Edward left. Lauren Mallory was the evil core of the them 
side, and almost everyone else, including my first friend in Forks, Jessica Stanley, seemed 
content to go along with her anti-Bella agenda. 

With Edward back at school, the dividing line had become even more distinct. 

Edward's return had taken its toll on Mike's friendship, but Angela was unswervingly loyal, 
and Ben followed her lead. Despite the natural aversion most humans felt toward the 
Cullens, Angela sat dutifully beside Alice every day at lunch. After a few weeks, Angela even 
looked comfortable there. It was difficult not to be charmed by the Cullens - once one gave 
them the chance to be charming. 

"Outside of school?" Charlie asked, calling my attention back. 

"I haven't seen anyone outside of school, Dad. Grounded, remember? And Angela has a 
boyfriend, too. She's always with Ben. If I'm really free," I added, heavy on the skepticism, 
"maybe we could double." 

"Okay. But then . . ." He hesitated. "You and Jake used to be joined at the hip, and now -" 

I cut him off. "Can you get to the point, Dad? What's your condition - exactly?" 

"I don't think you should dump all your other friends for your boyfriend, Bella," he said in a 
stern voice. "It's not nice, and I think your life would be better balanced if you kept some 
other people in it. What happened last September . . ." 

I flinched. 

"Well," he said defensively. "If you'd had more of a life outside of Edward Cullen, it might 
not have been like that." 

"It would have been exactly like that," I muttered. 

"Maybe, maybe not." 

"The point?" I reminded him. 

"Use your new freedom to see your other friends, too. Keep it balanced." 

I nodded slowly. "Balance is good. Do I have specific time quotas to fill, though?" 

He made a face, but shook his head. "I don't want to make this complicated. Just don't forget 
your friends . . ." 

It was a dilemma I was already struggling with. My friends. People who, for their own safety, 
I would never be able to see again after graduation. 

So what was the better course of action? Spend time with them while I could? Or start the 

 

separation now to make it more gradual? I quailed at the idea of the second option. 

". . . particularly Jacob," Charlie added before I could think things through more than that. 

A greater dilemma than the first. It took me a moment to find the right words. "Jacob might 
be . . . difficult." 

"The Blacks are practically family, Bella," he said, stern and fatherly again. "And Jacob has 
been a very, very good friend to you." 

"I know that." 

"Don't you miss him at all?" Charlie asked, frustrated. 

My throat suddenly felt swollen; I had to clear it twice before I answered. "Yes, I do miss 
him," I admitted, still looking down. "I miss him a lot." 

"Then why is it difficult?" 

It wasn't something I was at liberty to explain. It was against the rules for normal people 
-human people like me and Charlie - to know about the clandestine world full of myths and 
monsters that existed secretly around us. I knew all about that world - and I was in no small 
amount of trouble as a result. I wasn't about to get Charlie in the same trouble. 

"With Jacob there is a . . . conflict," I said slowly. "A conflict about the friendship thing, I 
mean. Friendship doesn't always seem to be enough for Jake." I wound my excuse out of 
details that were true but insignificant, hardly crucial compared to the fact that Jacob's 
werewolf pack bitterly hated Edward's vampire family - and therefore me, too, as I fully 
intended to join that family. It just wasn't something I could work out with him in a note, 
and he wouldn't answer my calls. But my plan to deal with the werewolf in person had 
definitely not gone over well with the vampires. 

"Isn't Edward up for a little healthy competition?" Charlie's voice was sarcastic now. 

I leveled a dark look at him. "There's no competition." 

"You're hurting Jake's feelings, avoiding him like this. He'd rather be just friends than 
nothing." 

Oh, nowI was avoidinghim ? 

"I'm pretty sure Jake doesn't want to be friends at all." The words burned in my mouth. 
"Where'd you get that idea, anyway?" 

Charlie looked embarrassed now. "The subject might have come up today with Billy. . . ." 

"You and Billy gossip like old women," I complained, stabbing my fork viciously into the 
congealed spaghetti on my plate. 

 

"Billy's worried about Jacob," Charlie said. "Jake's having a hard time right now. . . . He's 
depressed." 

I winced, but kept my eyes on the blob. 

"And then you were always so happy after spending the day with Jake." Charlie sighed. 

"I'm happy now ," I growled fiercely through my teeth. 

The contrast between my words and tone broke through the tension. Charlie burst into 
laughter, and I had to join in. 

"Okay, okay," I agreed. "Balance." 

"And Jacob," he insisted. 

"I'll try." 

"Good. Find that balance, Bella. And, oh, yeah, you've got some mail," Charlie said, closing 
the subject with no attempt at subtlety. "It's by the stove." 

I didn't move, my thoughts twisting into snarls around Jacob's name. It was most likely junk 
mail; I'd just gotten a package from my mom yesterday and I wasn't expecting anything else. 

Charlie shoved his chair away from the table and stretched as he got to his feet. He took his 
plate to the sink, but before he turned the water on to rinse it, he paused to toss a thick 
envelope at me. The letter skidded across the table and thunk ed into my elbow. 

"Er, thanks," I muttered, puzzled by his pushiness. Then I saw the return address - the letter 
was from the University of Alaska Southeast. "That was quick. I guess I missed the deadline 
on that one, too." 

Charlie chuckled. 

I flipped the envelope over and then glared up at him. "It's open." 

"I was curious." 

"I'm shocked, Sheriff. That's a federal crime." 

"Oh, just read it." 

I pulled out the letter, and a folded schedule of courses. 

"Congratulations," he said before I could read anything. "Your first acceptance." 

"Thanks, Dad." 

 

"We should talk about tuition. I've got some money saved up -" 

"Hey, hey, none of that. I'm not touching your retirement, Dad. I've got my college fund." 
What was left of it - and there hadn't been much to begin with. 

Charlie frowned. "Some of these places are pretty pricey, Bells. I want to help. You don't 
have to go to all the way to Alaska just because it's cheaper." 

It wasn't cheaper, not at all. But it was far away, and Juneau had an average of three hundred 
twenty-one overcast days per year. The first was my prerequisite, the second was Edward's. 

"I've got it covered. Besides, there's lots of financial aid out there. It's easy to get loans." I 
hoped my bluff wasn't too obvious. I hadn't actually done a lot of research on the subject. 

"So . . . ," Charlie began, and then he pursed his lips and looked away. 

"So what?" 

"Nothing. I was just . . ." He frowned. "Just wondering what . . . Edward's plans are for next 
year?" 

"Oh." 

"Well?"