Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

Author's note: The story you are about to read takes place a few years after Breaking Dawn. The Cullens have moved to Alaska. A hyphen signifies a paragraph break. It is written completely in Bella's POV unless stated otherwise.

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Chapter II

Four hours later, at three am, Alice had finally picked an outfit for me after making me try on about a thousand. I was wearing a pair of floral patterned footless tights under a very long but fitted denim shirt. It already clung to me but Alice had still wound a wide brown leather belt around it to "accentuate my fabulous waist" – her words, not mine. She had loaned me a pair of her brown leather ankle boots too, which had enormous heels. If I were still human I wouldn't have been able to walk in them, but my vampire self had no problem with them. I had slipped a ring with a huge emerald flower onto my finger to hide my wedding ring, which I couldn't bear to take off. Alice had also supplied me with an old leather messenger bag of hers, all my school stuff already packed into it conveniently. Now we were going to work on my hair and makeup.

"Well if we're going with cowgirl chic," Alice mused, more to herself than me, "why not go all out?" Her fingers flew around my hair, fixing the tangled mess of brown that was my hair into two long, thick plaits and securing the fly away strands with a wide brown hair band decorated with a wide bow.

Alice's wide selection of makeup turned my lips a brilliant red, my eyelashes long and spidery, my eyelids a dark, smoky purple. I smiled at myself, surprised, once again, at Alice's handiwork.

"There. Parfait."

"Thanks Alice."

It was nearly 7 am. I stood up, slung the messenger bag across my shoulders, and went to wake Nessie. I could smell pancakes from the kitchen; someone must be making Nessie breakfast. I glided into my daughter's bedroom and woke her gently. I left her to dress. She looked about seven now, but in reality was much younger, but mentally was much older. Esme would be taking her to school that morning. It was more plausible. Anyway, no one would even consider the possibility that I could be Nessie's mother.

I was downstairs in a matter of moments. Carlisle was flipping pancakes in one of Esme's good pans. He looked up, saw me, and grinned.

"I'm new to this. Am I doing ok?" He asked teasingly. I wandered up behind him and glanced over his shoulder. The pancakes looked delicious, and perfect.

"Why is every vampire but me good at everything?" I whined, stamping my foot like a child. Carlisle chuckled.

"Mind getting me some butter and a knife?"

"Sure." I grabbed a knife from the drawer, pulled the butter out of the fridge, and laid them down on the counter island.

"I'd better make sure Edward is presentable," I joked, heading towards the stairs.

Upstairs, Edward was dressed in a pair of old jeans and a white t-shirt under a grey jumper. A pair of aviator sunglasses rest on the dressing table next to him. He is sitting there with a book, upon closer inspection I realise it is Romeo and Juliet.

"Morning."

"Good morrow, my dear Isabella."

I let out another exaggerated sigh.

"Are you ready to go?"

"Almost," he said, standing up and sliding a pair of smart, black leather gloves on to hide his own wedding band. "Ok."

I nodded, smiling. We went out the front door, our feet crunching on the gravel drive. Edward held the door to his Volvo open for me and I slid onto the front passenger seat. Esme would take Nessie to school when the time came, but Edward and I intended to be early for our first day of school. Rosalie and Emmett were climbing into the huge four-by-four and as Edward pulled away and across the bridge I saw Alice and Jasper coming out of the elegant front door of the new house.

"Ugh…" I groaned, leaning back against the seat.

"What? Aren't you excited?"

I thought Edward was being serious until I looked over and saw the wicked grin on his face.

I pursed my lips and stared hard out of the windscreen.

We arrived at the school in a little under five minutes. The school was tiny, seriously very small, and the car park was ridiculously crowded. Edward found a space and parked. I climbed out of the car and stared across the swarming crowd of students towards the lone school building, which was about four storeys tall and made of ugly, prefabricated sections. Edward held my messenger bag out to me, which I had stupidly left in the car. Being a vampire doesn't change some thing, I suppose.

"Ready?"

"No."

He threw his arm around my shoulder and led me towards the school, an action which reminded me of a paramedic leading a traumatised car crash victim towards an ambulance. No matter how clumsy I thought I looked, the majority of the student population turned to stare at us. Edward's eyes crinkled beneath his aviator sunglasses.

"Excuse me," Edward spoke to a girl about our age, well, the age that we were pretending to be anyway, "can you point us towards the office?"

She simply stared at him, and for the first time I noticed that she was quite pretty, by human standards. She had short cropped brown hair and blue eyes, and kind of reminded me of Alice; not really in looks but in manner. She seemed like she would be a happy-go-lucky kind of person normally, but now there was so little movement in her face that she looked comatose. I couldn't blame her. She was mesmerised by Edward.

"Go into the school and turn left. It's the first door." A tall, pretty blonde answered for her, gesturing wildly with her long arms as she spoke. If she weren't draped in a long jumper and furry boots for the cold, I was sure she would be dressed in a cheerleading uniform.

"Thanks," I muttered, pulling Edward away towards the school, and while we waked I said angrily, "she had some nerve. We're clearly together."

Edward chuckled.

"Are you jealous?"

"No." But I said it too quickly.

"Because you know, you're much prettier than her now. You were much prettier than her when you were human, too." He whirled me around so I was looking at my reflection in one of the school's large windows. I smiled at myself and fluttered my eyelashes, something I could pull off now.

"Sorry. Had a human moment there."

We entered the school through the automatic doors into a shabby foyer, with three sets of stairs leading off in different directions. A sign directly above us said Office and an arrow pointed to the left.

But before we could move, the screaming started.

We shared a look, and then ran, full, awesome, vampire speed ahead, towards the source. The hideous noise was echoing from the girls' bathroom. I ploughed through the door.

A girl lay on the floor, writhing in agony, her big green eyes wide with terror.

"Edward!" Where was he? Had been right behind me a minute ago.

"So I'm allowed to come in, then?" He peeked round the bathroom door. I shot him a withering look, and gestured frantically to the girl on the floor. His expression changed from one of glee to pure shock.

"She's been bitten."

It was my turn to look shocked. I turned my gaze back to the girl and saw the large, red shape of a vampire bite on her neck. Why hadn't I noticed it before?

"Can't you suck the venom out?" I asked desperately.

"No. She's a stranger," Edward looked pained, "I haven't hunted in days. I wouldn't be able to stop. We'll take her to Carlisle."

I nodded, swept the girl up in my arms and we ran back to the house in a matter of moments.