Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
-Dr. Seuss

Chapter 5:

Because I’m not a cruel person, I won’t go and review a four hour drive with Charlie. And nothing too special happened after picking up Renee and Alice, so I’ll just skip straight to the day of my graduation.

The smell of bacon woke me out of my sleep and brought me immediately down stairs to see who was responsible for the blissful morning smell. I wasn’t positive of who was cooking- but I knew it wasn’t Charlie since 1) he didn’t cook and 2) he had left early that morning to go to the police station. He was going to meet my mom and Alice at the school when the graduation ceremonies started.

When I entered the kitchen I immediately had to hold back laughter. My tone death mother was standing next to the stove with Alice by her side. Both of them had a spatula in their hand and were using them as if they were microphones. They were singing, if you could call it that, on the top of there lungs.

“We will find you
Acting on your best behavior
Turn your back on mother nature
Everybody wants to rule the world”

Their hips started moving to the tune that I’m sure they both heard in there heads. I had never heard the song before, but they both seemed to know it really well.

“It’s my own design
It’s my own remorse
Help me to decide
Help me make the most
Of freedom and of pleasure
Nothing ever lasts forever
Everybody wants to rule the world”

I couldn’t take it anymore, it was great comedy, but my mother really couldn’t sing, and watching her dance to it too… well there was only so much I could take. I had to find some way to stop them.“What are you two signing?”

Alice of course was the first one to notice me. “The best of the eighties, my friend. It’s “everybody wants to rule the world” by Tears for Fears.”

I shook my head “never heard of them.”

Renee looked over at me, her face still a little red from embarrassment, I guess that’s where the blushing came from “Alice knows almost all the songs from when I was in high school, it’s like she lived during that time.”

Alice smiled at the comment, but kept her mouth shut leaving me to respond. “Alice is a major history buff, she loves reading into all the different time periods. Especially those in the nineteen hundreds”

Alice shrugged “Everyone has there geeky side, I guess.”

“And what is you favorite time period?” leave it to my mother to ask all the questions.

Alice thought about this for a second, and then nodded her head, confirming something to herself. “I think the fifties are my favorite.”

When she said this, my mind went back to the day that Edward told me the whole Cullen family history. I could definitely see why those were her favorite years. She had just found Jasper and together they found the rest of the Cullen family. Those years were her first years with a family.

“The fifties, really? And why is that?” my mother, naïve to all of this, still had to ask.

A sneaky grin appeared on Alice’s face as she responded “James Dean, need I say more?”

My mother and I both laughed and a picture flashed into my mind, making me realize why James Dean, was so significant. “Hey Alice, Jasper would make a good James Dean, don’t you think.” All she had to do was smile, and I knew that we were on the same page. (a/n-sorry-brief history lesson-for those youngins, James Dean is a 50’s actor who sadly died in a car crash with his beautiful sports car a Porsche 550 spyder in 1955 at the age of 24 – he was young, hot and had dirty blond hair – and he just so happened to be the first person I thought of when I originally read Stephanie Meyer’s description of Jasper – okay – sorry for the interruption – back to the story!)

I walked over to the stove where she was flipping pancakes. “So, what is this wonderful smell that dragged me out of bed?”

“Blueberry pancakes, bacon and eggs: It’s your graduation breakfast.” Renee was taking eating utensils from the drawers and cupboards and setting them onto the table.

“What can I do to help?” my mother slapped my wrist when I reached for the plates that she was carrying and shoed me away.

“This is your graduation, so we’re making you breakfast, not the other way around. Now go sit, and wait to be served.”

I obeyed, knowing that it was useless to argue with my mother. It didn’t take long for Alice and Renee to come to the table, both with arms full of food. The smell was amazing, making my stomach immediately growl. The first thing I went for was the pancakes, fallowed immediately by the bacon, then the eggs. All of it tasted as good as it smelled. My mother and I both chowed down, until our stomachs could hold no more, and although Alice appeared to be doing the same thing, I noticed the napkin in her lap slowly growing from all the food she kept sneaking into it.

Since they had let me sleep in, Alice only had two hours to “Beautify” me for the ceremony at twelve-thirty. We had just finished cleaning the table, and were heading up the stairs to get ready when Alice froze. Her eyes closed, and a little scowl rolled on to her face. Luckily my mother was still in the kitchen, so she didn’t witness the abnormal behavior. I’m not too sure how I would explain to my mother that Alice was “just having a vision.” Maybe I could have told her it was indigestion or something.

After a few seconds, Alice opened her eyes. Her face was void of emotion. She just looked at me, and continued on to my room.

“Alice,” I said in a low voice, so as not to be overheard by my mother. “What did you see?”

She entered my room and started gathering all the things she needed to do my hair and make-up. “Sit down on the bed so we can start.” Her voice was off, filled with many different emotions: hurt, confusion, and what sounded like hate.

“What did you see Alice?” I sat on the bed and waited for the answer. It didn’t come, instead she started brushing out my hair that was still tangled from sleep, and she wasn’t gentle.

“Owe! Easy Alice, I’m still human, remember?”

“Sorry.” She said, but she wasn’t. She had been rough on purpose; luckily she came to her senses. Taking a deep breath, she started combing through my hair with more care.

“Alice! Talk to me. What happened? What’s going to happen?” Alice put the brush down and sat on the bed so that she was facing me.

“When were you planning on telling me?” I couldn’t figure out what she was talking about. Tell her what?

At my confused look, she continued, but what she said still didn’t help with my confusion. “I mean, I get that I’m Edward’s sister, and that you might not want to hurt him, but…I’m you’re best friend. You should have told me about this.”

“Alice, I don’t know…”

“And the fact that he’s a werewolf!” Crap! This was about Jacob.

I didn’t get around to informing her about Jacob and me. I had been trying to find the right time, but I kept putting it off. I should have known that she would have seen something about our relationship eventually. I let my hair fall in front of my face to hide my blush as she continued. “I mean, I’m not going to get mad at that. I don’t like him, that’s for sure. But we’re born enemies, so I can’t really help that. But a werewolf for a boyfriend! Bella, be realistic here, that’s worse than dating a vampire.”

“Alice!” I interrupted her little rant. This is why I had been avoiding this talk. I didn’t want to hear about how dangerous it was to be with Jacob. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about him. I’ve been looking for the right time,”

“The right time? When was that going to be? As we were entering the gym at the school? You definitely held it off till last minute.”

“I’m sorry, I really wanted to tell you, I just didn’t want to spoil the time we had, so I kept putting it off.”

“Bella, it wouldn’t have spoiled anything.” I glared at her and she corrected that last sentence. “okay, so I would have been upset for a little while, but I wouldn’t let it get in the way of anything that we were doing.”

“Alice, we both know you would have been nagging me about it all week.”

“Okay, that’s probably true, but Bella, he’s a werewolf! you know how dangerous they can me.”

“Yes, as dangerous as a vampire.”

“Bella, we can control ourselves.”

“They can too. So some of them find it a little more difficult, But Jacob is the strongest in the pack. He can control himself better than Sam, their pack leader. Which is why I trust the two of you will get along at the Graduation.”I said this last pit with a emphasis so Alice would get my point. She went quite, digesting everything she had just discovered, knowing that what she tried to say to me would just go in on ear and out the other. What can I say? I can be stubborn. “Out of curiosity, what did you see exactly in the vision?”

She looked at me and smiled. “You were in you’re graduation robes, looking for somebody. When you saw him, you’re whole face lit up. You raced over to him and kissed him.” her face squinched with distaste, “Quite hard too, I must say. It was almost like watching Emmet and Rosalie.” I laughed, but quieted when she said with a sly voice, “He had a surprise for you too, but I’ll let you wait for that.”

“What! You can’t do that!”

“Yes I can. You didn’t tell me that you had a boyfriend, so I’m not telling you what he got for you!” it was useless, she wasn’t going to give in. She started working on my hair again as she asked “So, how long has this little relation ship of yours been going on?”

The next two hours was filled with hair, makeup, fashion and Q&A about Jacob. She especially found it amusing when I told her that I kissed Jacob first, and not the other way around. I’m pretty sure Alice was just trying to figure out what it was that I saw in him. Why I would choose to be with a werewolf. Whether she figured it out or not, I wasn’t sure, but after the rather long inquisition, she seemed to be a little less aggressive towards him, when ever his name was brought up.

After what seemed like an eternity, Alice’s glamorize torture was complete. She shooed me to the bathroom, to examine her work, and I was once again shocked at Alice’s skills. Even I had to admit that I looked beautiful with what she had done. My hair was straightened, with a few loose ringlets here and there, to give it some texture and volume and part of it was pulled back to make my face more visible. What she had done with the make-up, I’m not sure, but it was very well done. Alice managed to accentuate all the good qualities of my face, and added just a little bit of an eye color that matched the dress she made me buy for the graduation. Everything she did gave off a simple appearance, yet, it still showed the fashionable, glamour side that Alice loved so much. How this took two hours, I don’t know. But the end result was fantastic.

“Do you like it?” Alice had followed me to the bathroom, and was now examining my reflection in the mirror, waiting for my answer.

I turned to her, and with a big smile, gave her a quick hug. “I love it, thank you.”

Alice left me to wait downstairs with Renee so I could finish getting ready. Soon I myself was heading down the stairs, ready to officially be out of that hell called “high school.”

“Bella! You look beautiful!” my mother’s cries filled the room when she saw me. She raced over and gave me a big hug. “I forget sometimes that you’re not my little baby anymore.”

“Umm, Thanks mom.” I pulled away from the embrace, slightly embarrassed, and most likely blushing. “We should get going; I don’t want to be late.” Since Charlie had the police cruiser, and both Alice and Renee had flown down here, we were stuck using the old truck. Some how the three of us squeezed into it, my mother was in the passenger seat, I was behind the wheel, and Alice was squeezed in between us. Luckily we are all rather small females, so it wasn’t too tight in the truck.

More than half of the seventy five seniors were already at the school, the others were no more than a few minuets behind me. I was just as anxious as all of the other seniors, after today, we would never have to set foot in a high school class room again. Almost all of the students noticed that Alice Cullen was with me, and I’m sure there was talk about her temporary return. When they left, it was said that they left back to Alaska for a family emergency. Some of the students nodded to her, and she would nod back, a few said “hello,” but they would usually walk straight on, never staying too long in her presence. Only about two students had the nerve to ask her about where she had gone, and if she had graduated. Although she only left about a month prior, she told everyone that she had received her diploma at the high school that she had transferred to. Although I happen to know, that she hadn’t gone to any school after leaving forks.

The seniors branched off into a different section of the school to get a cap and gown checked out to them, and then to assembled to their designated spots to begin the ceremony.

Although it was the end of May, it was Forks, and since it was Forks, it was raining. The ceremony was being held in the gym. Chairs had already been set up for all of the faculty and the seniors. Family sat in the bleachers that surrounded the gym floor to give them all a better view of their loved ones entering the real world. I didn’t have time to find Charlie and Jacob before the graduation, so I just had to trust that they all found each other, and that Alice and Jacob would get along.

Soon “The Graduation Song” could be heard playing through the whole gym, and one by one, all the seniors filed into the gym. We found our seats and waited for all the graduation Baccalaureate and speeches to begin. I tried to listen, I really did, but they just wouldn’t hold my attention. Instead, I found my self trying to discreetly scan the room for not only my family and Alice, but for Jacob too. It didn’t take long to find Alice and Renee, they kept waving, trying to catch my attention. I smiled back at them, letting them know that I saw them, and silently praying that they would quit waiving. It was a graduation ceremony, not a parade! Charlie was sitting with them, and thankfully not waiving, but he did smile at me.

I still couldn’t find Jacob. I wouldn’t think he would be that hard to find, but I couldn’t spot him. I looked up front to see that an honor student was speaking now about the future. I tied once again to focus on the speech, but my mind was stubborn. It was looking again for Jacob. Maybe he didn’t come. But no. he said that he would, and Alice saw it in her vision.

Students started standing up, preparing to go up for their turn to officially finish high school. That’s when I started paying attention, not wanting to fall out of order. Time seemed to slow down, making it seem like forever before I got my turn to flip the tassel on my hat to the other side. I watched as the people I had become familiar with became graduates: Mike Newton, Jessica, Angela. All of them with a smile covering there whole face as they looked out to there fiends and family that cheered them on.

And then it was me. I handed the speaker the slip of paper with my name on it, and he called my name “Isabella Swan!” I heard many woops and yells of cheer as I walked up and accepted the “diploma,” which was actually just a rolled up piece of white paper since the real one is mailed out to you later, from the principal and shook his hand. After shaking the hand of several other people who were there, I returned to my seat, and applauded as the rest of the seniors were called.

Once every one was seated again and the cheers and applauding quieted, the principal went and said his final farewell. It was much shorter than the speeches, and ended with him giving all of the graduates the signal to flip our tassels on our hats to the other side.

The graduation ceremony was over.

My high school years were over.

This is where all the challenges that life has in store will start, all the drama that I suffered through in high school barely marking the beginning of the life ahead of me.

Graduates were joining with there families, and saying good byes to friends, some of whom they will never see again. I looked up then, and that’s when I saw him. Jacob was in the back of the gym away from all the other crowds, which is probably why I couldn’t find him before, with a big smile on his face. I knew that my parents and Alice would want to see me, but I couldn’t help myself. I walked, well, more like ran, over to where Jacob was standing with one arm behind his back.

“You came!” it was a rather pathetic thing to say, which kind of made me blush, but Jacob just smiled.

“Of course I came, you asked me too.” I liked that answer. “And, I brought you something.”

Oh, yeah, I forgot about Alice’s vision. “What is it?” I asked, still curious about what it could be.

He pulled his hand out from behind his back to show me what he had been hiding. It was a great big sunflower, which I hadn’t been aware could grow out here, with it always so cold and rainy. What caught my attention, however, was not the flower, but the object attached to it. It was some sort of feather. It’s markings were beautifully symmetrical, and all black and white. My finger went up, and lightly stroked the feather, showing me how soft it was, and from the size of the feather, it must have come from a very large bird.

“It’s beautiful.”

“It’s an eagle feather. I found it while I was running with the pack. Eagles are protectors, and they leave their feathers behind for those who need extra protection. The eagle is very sacred animal, just like the wolf. In some tribes, it is illegal to own such a feather, unless you have special permission. It will keep you out of harms way, since I can’t be with you every single minuet of every day.”

There was a time when Jacob didn’t believe any of his native stories and traditions, but now that he’s matured, and have seen the traditions unfold, he followed more and more of them each day. “I promise I’ll take great care of it.” I wasn’t too naïve, I knew how important certain animals were to certain tribes. And if the Eagle was a protector, than I would take all the protection I could get. “Thank you, Jacob”

He smiled, obviously glad that I liked the feather, and I did like it. I had never gotten a gift like it. I was unique, and it was from Jacob. “Bella, if I kiss you right now, would Charlie get mad?”

I laughed and shook my head. “Charlie probably wouldn’t even realize what he was seeing.” Either that or he would be very happy. Jacob could never do wrong in front of Charlie.

Jacob put a free hand on my cheek, and his thumb slightly grazed back and forth. “And what about your mother?”

Now that one was a little harder to predict. “I guess you’re going to have to kiss me and find out.”

And so he did. One of those wonderful deep kisses that he does. A Jacob kiss. And I’m assuming this was the kiss that Alice had seen in her vision.

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Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up I don’t have computer access that often – which means that it takes longer to get chapters up – so I apologize!!– this chapter is still part of the information chapter – so it kind of dragged on in parts -the plot will start to reveal its self in a few chapters – I guess I just get carried away with the minor stuff – sorry.

Thank you to all who review – your advise is helpful – and your encouragements are very encouraging! So thank you very much!

Katben222- don’t worry about Edward – I don’t know for sure when he will be back – but it wont be for a good 3 years, at the very least- and sorry, no fight – I want Alice and Jacob to learn to get along. Where is the fun when your boyfriend and your best friend hate each other?

Dark angel- sorry can’t tell you what will happen – it gives too much away

Emanneppename- I know it jumps – but I figure if I was dumped twice by the same guy – I would jump myself – I wouldn’t want to constantly remind myself of the guy – which is what I’m trying to do – and I tend to have a thing for the underdog (not to mention the fact that I just happen to have a thing for werewolves…)

Lost-in-tears – thankyou – love your support!

Brokenxtwilight- it’s not just “m” for sexual content – which I try not to do too much of…-but for other stuff that will happen later

-I think that’s all the questions that I noticed – got more questions? Ask-I’ll answer--if I can. Thanks to all the wonderful feedback

--okay – shutting up know – but don’t be afraid to review!!