ow 
Edward rode in the backseat of my father's police car, behind the fiberglass divider, with an 
amused expression - probably due to my father's amused expression, and the grin that 
widened every time Charlie stole a glance at Edward in his rearview mirror. Which almost 
certainly meant that Charlie was imagining things that would get him in trouble with me if 
he said them out loud. 

"Are you all right?" Edward whispered when he helped me from the front seat in the school 
parking lot. 

"Nervous," I answered, and it wasn't even a lie. 

"You are so beautiful," he said. 

He looked like he wanted to say more, but Charlie, in an obvious maneuver that he meant to 
be subtle, shrugged in between us and put his arm around my shoulders. 

"Are you excited?" he asked me. 

"Not really," I 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 choked up a bit 
at the end. 

 

"Dad," I 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." 

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

Charlie laughed at my tone and squeezed my shoulders. Edward looked at the clouds, his 
face thoughtful. 

My father had to leave us at the back door of the gym and go around to the main entrance 
with the rest of the parents. 

It was pandemonium as Ms. Cope from the front office and Mr. Varner the math teacher 
tried to line everyone up alphabetically. 

"Up front, Mr. Cullen," Mr. Varner barked at Edward. 

"Hey, Bella!" 

I looked up to see Jessica Stanley waving at me from the back of the line with a smile on her 
face. 

Edward kissed me quickly, sighed, and went to go stand with the C's. Alice wasn't there. 
What was she going to do? Skip graduation? What poor timing on my part. I should have 
waited to figure things out until after this was over with. 

"Down here, Bella!" Jessica called again. 

I walked down the line to take my place behind Jessica, mildly curious as to why she was 
suddenly so friendly. As I got closer, I saw Angela five people back, watching Jessica with 
the same curiosity. 

Jess was babbling before I was in earshot. 

". . . so amazing. I mean, it seems like we just met, and now we're graduating together," she 
gushed. "Can you believe it's over? I feel like screaming!" 

"So do I," I muttered. 

"This is all just so incredible. Do you remember your first day here? We were friends, like, 
right away. From the first time we saw each other. Amazing. And now I'm off to California 
and you'll be in Alaska and I'm going to miss you so much! You have to promise that we'll 
get together sometimes! I'm so glad you're having a party. That's perfect. Because we really 
haven't spent much time together in a while and now we're all leaving. . . ." 

 

She droned on and on, and I was sure the sudden return of our friendship was due to 
graduation nostalgia and gratitude for the party invite, not that I'd had anything to do with 
that. I paid attention as well as I could while I shrugged into my robe. And I found that I was 
glad that things could end on a good note with Jessica. 

Because it was an ending, no matter what Eric, the valedictorian, had to say about 
commencement meaning "beginning" and all the rest of the trite nonsense. Maybe more for 
me than for the rest, but we were all leaving something behind us today. 

It went so quickly. I felt like I'd hit the fast forward button. Were we supposed to march 
quite that fast? And then Eric was speed talking in his nervousness, the words and phrases 
running together so they didn't make sense anymore. Principal Greene started calling names, 
one after the other without a long enough pause between; the front row in the gymnasium 
was rushing to catch up. Poor Ms. Cope was all thumbs as she tried to give the principal the 
right diploma to hand to the right student. 

I watched as Alice, suddenly appearing, danced across the stage to take hers, a look of deep 
concentration on her face. Edward followed behind, his expression confused, but not upset. 
Only the two of them could carry off the hideous yellow and still look the way they did. They 
stood out from the rest of the crowd, their beauty and grace otherworldly. I wondered how 
I'd ever fallen for their human farce. A couple of angels, standing there with wings intact, 
would be less conspicuous. 

I heard Mr. Greene call my name and I rose from my chair, waiting for the line in front of me 
to move. I was conscious of cheering in the back of the gym, and I looked around to see 
Jacob pulling Charlie to his feet, both of them hooting in encouragement. I could just make 
out the top of Billy's head beside Jake's elbow. I managed to throw them an approximation 
of a smile. 

Mr. Greene finished with the list of names, and then continued to hand out diplomas with a 
sheepish grin as we filed past. 

"Congratulations, Miss Stanley," he mumbled as Jess took hers. 

"Congratulations, Miss Swan," he mumbled to me, pressing the diploma into my good hand. 

"Thanks," I murmured. 

And that was it. 

I went to stand next to Jessica with the assembled graduates. Jess was all red around the 
eyes, and she kept blotting her face with the sleeve of her robe. It took me a second to 
understand that she was crying. 

Mr. Greene said something I didn't hear, and everyone around me shouted and screamed. 
Yellow hats rained down. I pulled mine off, too late, and just let it fall to the ground. 

 

"Oh, Bella!" Jess blubbered over the sudden roar of conversation. "I can't believe we're 
done." 

"I can't believe it's all over," I mumbled. 

She threw her arms around my neck. "You have to promise we won't lose touch." 

I hugged her back, feeling a little awkward as I dodged her request. "I'm so glad I know you, 
Jessica. It was a good two years." 

"It was," she sighed, and sniffed. Then she dropped her arms. "Lauren!" she squealed, waving 
over her head and pushing through the massed yellow gowns. Families were beginning to 
converge, pressing us tighter together. 

I caught sight of Angela and Ben, but they were surrounded by their families. I would 
congratulate them later. 

I craned my head, looking for Alice. 

"Congratulations," Edward whispered in my ear, his arms winding around my waist. His 
voice was subdued; he'd been in no hurry for me to reach this particular milestone. 

"Um, thanks." 

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

"Not quite yet." 

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

"You're probably right." 

"Who are you looking for?" 

My searching wasn't quite as subtle as I'd thought. "Alice - where is she?" 

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

His voice took on a new tone. I looked up to see his confused expression as he stared toward 
the back door of the gym, and I made an impulse decision - the kind I really should think 
twice about, but rarely did. 

"Worrying about Alice?" I asked. 

"Er . . ." He didn't want to answer that. 

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

 

His eyes flashed down to my face, and narrowed in suspicion. "She was translating the Battle 
Hymn of the Republic into Arabic, actually. When she finished that, she moved on to Korean 
sign language." 

I laughed nervously. "I suppose thatwould keep her head busy enough." 

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

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

He waited, confused. 

I looked around. Charlie would be on his way through the crowd now. 

"Knowing Alice," I 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." 

"What are you talking about?" 

I saw Charlie's head bob up over the other heads as he searched for me. He spotted me and 
waved. 

"Just stay calm, okay?" 

He nodded once, his mouth a grim line. 

In hurried whispers I explained my reasoning to him. "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." 

His face had turned so white that I had a hard time finishing. 

"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!" 

His eyes were huge, wide with panic, dazed and horrified. He could see that I was right, just 
as Alice had. 

I put my hand on his cheek. "Calm," I 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 my ear now. He 
wrapped his arms around me, ever so slyly shuffling Edward off to the side as he did so. 

 

"Thanks," I muttered, preoccupied by the expression on Edward's face. He still hadn't gained 
control. His hands were halfway extended toward me, like he was about to grab me and 
make a run for it. Only slightly more in control of myself than he was, running didn't seem 
like such a terrible idea to me. 

"Jacob and Billy ha