Chapter 1

I couldn't begin to explain how much the possibility of going to high school for the second time would be. My last high school experience was far from ordinary, only this time it will be a lot stranger.

My first high school experience is one I will never forget. I was plain and ordinary, nothing spectacular to anybody and not worth remembering. That is until I moved to Forks, Washington to live with my father. The first day of school was nerve wracking because I didn't know anybody and having to go to a new school in the middle of the year was bad enough. I wasn't a people person and I did not have the best memory in the world. However, as dull as I was, everybody was drawn to me, much to my dismay. I was in the cafeteria, looking around, remembering faces but no names. Then, there he was. The most gorgeous and interesting man I had ever seen. His name was Edward Cullen, as the girl next to me told me. Then there were Alice, Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett, his adoptive family from what I understood. When she said Edward's name I knew he would be in my life forever.

Forever now has a new meaning entirely but forever is still forever. High school, again, huge drag and I was enrolled at the new school by my maiden name of Isabella Swan. It was going to be hard enough to find an alibi that would work for me and my daughter Renesmee. Yeah I said daughter. She was almost fully grown to the age of 17, the same age as my husband Edward. I was 18, forever.

Edward, Renesmee and myself were driving to the Cullen house in Forks, Washington from New Hampshire. We just put the final touches on the selling of our house so we were fully ready to move back to the Cullen's. I just finished my Bachelor's degree in Business, finishing 2nd in my class at Dartmouth. It's amazing how well you do in school when you didn't need to sleep. Renesmee is the only one that does sleep, being that's she's half-human and half-vampire.

When we pulled into the driveway, leading up the dirt path through the forest. We were so close to seeing the family that we all had missed tremendously when we were in New Hampshire. Back to the house in Forks, preparing for the next step for the family. We had 3 months to get the charade together and then we would be off to our next location. It's the first time that all of us had been together since the almost battle that had happened with the Volturi, almost 5 years ago, to protect my daughter.

I looked into the backseat and saw her. The perfect mix of Edward's perfect face and myself, I smiled at her.
She touched my shoulder. "Don't be worried momma," she thought. Pictures of our family; Carlisle, my sweet compassionate father in law, Esme, my beautiful caring mother in law that treated me like a daughter, Alice, the eccentric vampire with style and grace like no other being able to see the future. Then her husband Jasper, the quiet, soft spoken man that could change the emotions in the room without even trying. Rosalie, the most beautiful woman in the world who was the only one that was siding with me when I first found out I was pregnant with Renesmee. And then her husband Emmett, the biggest of the Cullens and the jokester of the clan, always competitive and challenging anybody to anything. I smiled towards the thought of seeing them again. I was so lucky to have such a great daughter. Everyone was waiting outside for us when we got there. Edward pulled the silver Volvo S60R into the garage, into the spot where it usually sat, just were it belonged. I knew that he wanted to get rid of it because it was getting old but it was too practical to just get rid of it. The obsession that he had with cars had rubbed off, unfortunately, onto Renesmee.

Alice was the first to greet us as she danced her way to the car. I got out of the car and hugged her tightly.

"Oh Bella, I've missed you."
"I've missed you too."

"I'm so so sorry that I missed you graduating from college. I promise I will be there next time."
"Well next time it won't be business."
"Not a keeper."
"No not at all. The only thing that I could do right about now is keep track of your finances and do taxes. Maybe…" I trailed off as Esme came up behind her. I smiled wide and pulled her in close to me. I missed her hugs, always filled with love and compassion. As I stepped away from her, I was gracefully thrown into the air from behind and then placed over a bulky shoulder.

"Hey big bro," I said knowing it was Emmett. "Time for a rematch."
"A rematch ye."
"Yeah a rematch. I really need to stretch out my legs." He put me down on the ground and I squatted to the ground and back up again shaking my legs out.

"A race to the cottage and back then."
I nodded.

"All ready you two," Esme said disappointed. "Bella you just got here."

Emmett and I were already lined up at the edge of the garage. Nessie was standing in-between us with a red clothe.

"There's no helping it Esme," Edward said touching her shoulder. "She's been talking about this since the minute that we hit the Washington border."
Renesmee raised the piece of red cloth into the air. The anticipation grew in my legs, trembeling, waiting. I tried not to get distracted by the stitching of the cloth. I was still amazed by my vision. As she threw the cloth to the ground I was off at the speed of light. Emmett and myself were equally matched for the most part. He was of course stronger than I was but for what I lacked in strength I made up with speed. I was still faster than he was, especially when I put my mind towards it. It seemed like only a minute passed and we were at my cottage. The one that Esme had given me as a birthday present for my family of 3 to live in just shortly after Nessie was born. I didn't get too wrapped up in the memories that existed there, otherwise I would lose. There was, however, one thing that I had a definite advantage over Emmett with. I could certainly jump a lot further than he could. Which came in handy when we reached the river. I didn't hesitate as I flung myself across it. I had only lost about 5 to 6 feet since I jumped it as a newborn. I had gotten to the garage and had to jump up onto the top of it to avoid destroying the Volvo. However, I think that Emmett and Edward were on the same page. Seconds after I landed I heard a huge crash. I jumped off and saw the Volvo destroyed beyond repair, with Emmett's body printed into the backseat where my daughter had been sitting not 5 minutes beforehand.

I went over to Emmett and punched him in the arm. "Come on big bro, must you encourage his car habit."
"Sorry. It just looked so outdated."

I punched his arm again, only harder and went to Renesmee. Rosalie went over and caressed his arm.

"So lovely daughter of mine," I said putting my arm around her shoulder. "Who won?"

"You did, by a long shot. Uncle Emmett, I think you're getting old."

"One, no, I think you are. You're your mother's height now. And two, I just let your mother win so that I could see her face when the Volvo was destroyed."

I growled at him. "Well, too bad that was going to be her car." Emmett and Edward hit themselves in the head simultaneously. "If you too weren't so impacient about everything and about getting a new car then it would have been nice." Renesmee stood next to me still in shock.

"You're gonna let me start driving," she questioned looking up at me.

"Yeah I was going to talk to your dad about it tonight."

"Well it's not fair that because Daddy messes up I don't get a car."

"Think of it in the way that you are really only 6 and half years old. Then it won't be so disappointing."

"Good one daddy," she yelled at Edward and stomped away to the house. Edward looked dumbfounded.

"You didn't tell me," Edward whispered, sounding very disappointed in himself.

"I know," I said stepping next to him and putting my hand on his shoulder sympathetically. I whispered "I thought about it in the car but the girl never went to sleep. I thought it would be good for her to have a car of her own so that way she doesn't need to be with her parents all the time and we can have some more alone time. We didn't really get that much of a honeymoon because I got really pregnant really fast."

He smirked at the comments and it then seemed like that was all that was on his mind. "Well there has to be a good car for her that I think that we can both agree on.""

"You need to talk to her. Rosalie got a hold of her and not only does she like pretty cars but she also knows what's under the hood."

"She gets the style from me but the mechanics from Rosalie."

"We've got a one of a kind daughter."

"Yeah that now looks more like a sister than a daughter."

"Don't start that with me." The fact of how old my daughter already looked upset me and it was always a touchy subject with me. I looked around and saw Esme, Rosalie, Emmett, Alice and Jasper but no Carlisle. "Esme?"

"Yes darling?"

"Where's Carlisle?"

"He's umm," she hesitated. "He's taking care of some business."

Her face looked puzzled, like she didn't want to press the matter. I kind of figured out what she was talking about. It had been 4 years since we were in Forks. Edward, Renesmee and I had stayed a little over a year after the battle with the Volturi. I was too attached to my old life, not wanting to forget people or the memories that I had with them. I didn't exactly want to let it go yet. So many people that I didn't think that I couldn't live without. My father Charlie, my best friend Jacob, Seth and the list goes on. Every time I thought of my old life I wanted to cry. When Charlie had passed away it was really hard. My father, who I loved so much, was gone. I couldn't help him. I couldn't do anything at all. There was an asshole driver that didn't want to pull over for my dad. So it ended up in a high-speed car chase. With the roads so slippery from all the rain that we go, he lost control of the cop car. He was dead the moment that the car wrapped around the tree.

I had told my mother not to come. I didn't want her to find out about my secret, especially at a time like this. But of course, being my mother, she wanted to make sure that I was okay. I had expected both of my parents to be gone someday but this day was just way too soon to lose either of them. When Alice and Jasper picked her up at the airport, they knew that she was to console rather than to morn. When she came to the house, I was on the front porch waiting for her.

"Bella, you look…"

"Different. I know," I replied faint-heartedly. She then pulled me into a hug.

"And you're so cold. What's wrong with you sweetie?"

"That mysterious disease that I picked up while I was on my honeymoon forever lowered my body temperature a few degrees. I've actually gotten quite used to it."

"And you deep drown eyes, they're gone, they're golden."

"The new contacts that I got. My vision all of a sudden went all screwy. I don't know what happened. Probably the disease again."

"Are you lying to me? You know you don't lie well."

Thankfully Edward came up behind me and reintroduced himself and sent her his greatest sympathies. He was always so good with awkward situations. Renesmee was very carefully around Renee. She was referred to as Nessie as Edward's cousin who had come to stay with us for a while. I knew that I would need to tell her what I was eventually but today was not the day. Everyone who didn't know what I was was shocked by how composed I was at the funeral. Although I could not physically able to cry, inside it was tearing me apart. It could be compared to the way that a newborn felt towards human blood and needing to resist it. The emotions on the inside of my body felt worse than any physical pain in my human life. Except when Edward left me. It was on par with that feeling.

After seeing everyone again and talking for a little bit I went into the house to find Renesmee. I listened and heard a heartbeat upstairs. I followed it into Carlisle's study.

"What are you doing baby?"

"I'm just catching up on some reading." She looked really upset and it was one of the only times I had seen her like that. Two other times, specifically. Once when Charlie passed away and the other was when Edward and I had yanked her across country without even saying goodbye to Jacob. When I decided that I wanted to leave, we packed up our essential stuff into the Volvo and left. I knew that we would be able to get into Dartmouth and we had more than enough resources to buy a house and another car if needed. She was really upset to leave Jacob. She told me that he was nothing more than a friend but she didn't know that he had imprinted her as a child.

"Getting ready for school," I asked as I closed the door and perched myself up onto Carlisle's desk.

"I guess so. Nothing else to really do."

"Do you want to talk?"

"Yeah in a house full of vampires. I mind as well be speaking into a microphone."

"Do you want to go somewhere? Are you hungry?"

"No."

"Thirsty."

"No."

"Do you want to go shopping?"

"Really," she said excitedly.

"Yes but only if you talk to me."

"Deal. Can I drive?"

"No, not yet. You have to get your license the legal way."

"Can we talk about that?"

"Yes. Why don't you go and get ready? Borrow an outfit from Alice and I'll talk to your father."

"K."

She raced to Alice's room to raid her closet and probably to get some ideas. I swear she had a part of every Cullen family member. From Alice she got the love of clothes and fashion sense.

"That girl is amazing," I said to Edward walking towards our room.

"Yeah she is. You're taking her shopping?" I nodded. "But you hate shopping."

"Yeah but she loves it. But I figure that way we can talk about things. We don't do enough things, just her and I. I mean you get to talk to her about cars."

"I know."

"Question?"

"Alright."

I grabbed his arm and pulled him up out of the bed. I dragged him to the window and jumped out onto a tree and climbed up it, with him following. I wanted to be out of the hearing of Renesmee.

"What can we do about the car situation," I asked when we reached the top.

He thought for a minute pondering the idea. "Well I can give up on my thoughts of getting a new car and buy her one instead."

"You don't really want to do that, I know you."

"Well no I don't want that but I feel absolutely horrible. I want her to have everything, especially when we can give her everything she could ever want and need." Edward was a softy when it came to giving Renesmee anything that she wanted. I was a little bit stricter with it but I was always overruled.

"I know that you do but," I thought for a second. "What about my Mercedes Guardian. I don't drive it and at least it's safe. It goes fast enough for her and it sleek. We can get a new paint job for it and at that way I won't be as worried about her. Also, you can get the car that you want and I can drive my Ferrari, as much as I despise it."

Edward looked towards me and smiled. Although his eyes didn't change, I could tell how much they lit up. He grabbed me, planting a kiss on my lips. Emotion quickly came over me, with electric shocks running through my body. His cool hand caressed my face so lightly.

"Honey, later," I said trying not to stutter my words. "Right now I'm supposed to be taking care of the Renesmee situation."

"But I don't want to wait."

"Too bad. Why don't you do something nice for your daughter while we're gone? You own her."

"But what about the car? Isn't that the surprise?"

"Yeah it is from me but you sir," I said poking his muscular chest. "You have some stuff to make up for."

"How long will you be gone?"

"About 5 hours, factoring in the driving."

"Okay love. We should go to the house."

"Just one more kiss."

"Nope, not until later, remember."

"Come on, not just one," I said leaning in closer to him. He resisted as long as he could before he gave in and gave me a kiss. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, now get going."

I rushed down the trees and in through the open window to our room. I went downstairs to wait for Renesmee. Alice and Jasper were sitting on the white couch in the center of the room focusing on the television. There had been a massacre in Volterra, Italy. I sat down next to Alice and concentrated on the news. Edward moved swiftly down the stairs and sat next to me on the edge of the couch. As the news rolled on everyone was staring at the television not saying a word. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was too much of a coincidence that the massacre happened in the same place that the Volturi lived.

"Is it them," I asked looking to Alice. She seemed to be off in another world, her eyes were glazed over and she was in deep thought. I could tell that she was having a vision. I had been away from them for so long but I still understood their abilities more than most would. After a few minutes Alice snapped out of it and looked around the room. Everyone was staring at her including Renesmee that had come down the stairs a few seconds ago.

"Alice," Esme asked touching her shoulder. "What do you see?"

"They've gone insane," she said quietly. "Aro couldn't keep control of them anymore. Everybody is going their separate ways with one thing on their minds, destruction."

Everyone stood still, not knowing what to do.

"Momma, what's going on," Renesmee questioned.

"Nothing honey."

"No lying to me."

"We need to get her out," Alice stated. "I can't see anything with her around."

I looked to Renesmee and sighed. I needed to get her out. "Go start the car."

"Which one?"

"You choose. I'll be out in a minute okay?"

"Yeah."

She ran over to the drawer that had all of the keys for the cars in it. She pondered for a moment and grabbed a set of keys before running outside to the garage.

"What are we going to do?" I looked towards Esme trying to figure out what we needed to do about the situation. There was no way that we could just the Volturi go on a killing spree. They always solved the problems but now they were the problem.

"Esme," I said quietly.

"I don't know what to do. I don't want to get involved in this."

"But we have no other choice," Emmett said sternly. "We can let this go on."

"We have to wait," Esme stated. "We've got to wait for Carlisle to be home so that we can talk about this. He'll know more than anybody. Why don't we relax not think about this for as long as we can. Bella, go with Renesmee and have fun. Don't worry about the problems her. Love you daughter while you can. Edward, Emmett why don't you two look up some information on cars. We are going to need two new ones, everyone needs a car and I need one too. Jasper, do you mind the Ducati?" He shook his head. "Okay then you can use that. Jasper, Alice, Rosalie, why don't you go hunting for a little while."

I was still amazed about how much everybody listened to Esme. She was the calming voice that everybody needed. Everyone headed off into the directions that Esme had appointed them. I knew that she was just buying time but at the moment we needed it. As I walked to the car, I was glad that nobody could hear my thoughts. I was worried about having to fight a war against the Volturi. It was not something that any of us had been anticipating. It was a high likelihood that we, the Cullens, the second biggest coven in the world, would have to overtake the Volturi. That was not something that I was looking forward to and I'm not sure that many other people were either.