BPOV
The last few weeks of the holidays passed quickly. I spent the majority of my days with the Cullen's, but I still enjoyed spending my evenings getting to know Charlie better. It was nice to catch up on all the time we had missed during my childhood when I only saw him for a couple of weeks a year.
Alice and Jasper took a trip to Biloxi to find out what they could about Alice's past, so I spent most of my time with Edward, or bonding with Rose and Emmett over cars and video games. While I missed Alice and Jasper a lot, I had to admit that I was secretly enjoying the relaxation after coping with Alice's energetic attitude for so long. It was nice to just kick back and relax with Edward without having to worry about Alice barging in and grabbing me because she'd thought of something fun for us to do.
As the start of school got closer I was a little depressed to realise that Emmett, Jazz and Rose wouldn't be with us this year since they had all recently graduated again. Edward and Alice would be with me- which made things better, but I knew it was going to feel like half of us were missing. I stooped so low as to beg Emmett to reenrol and repeat senior year with me. "Please Emmett, It's not going to be nearly as fun without you. Just reenrol- you know it's more fun than spending your time here playing games with Jasper," I begged.
He chuckled at me, "Sorry Bells, but I think it'd look a little suspicious if I re-enrolled since I had perfect grades when I graduated."
I crossed my arms and pouted, "Well that's hard to believe seeing the way you act sometimes," I grumbled.
Beside me Edward chuckled, "You could enrol in kindergarten with the four year olds and apart from your size nobody would be any wiser Em."
Emmett huffed at us. "Besides Bella, just think- with all the free time I'll have I can plan out much more elaborate pranks to play on you," he grinned at me mischievously.
I rolled my eyes, temporarily distracted from my original quest, "Please Emmett, even if you had all the time in the world there's no way you'll ever manage to trick me."
Carlisle, who had arrived home from the hospital just in time to hear our conversation sighed, "Eternity with the pair of you is going to be very long," he muttered, "What did I do to deserve two pranksters?"
Emmett and I turned and gave him large, identical grins, "You're just a sucker for a pretty face Carlisle," I answered. He simply sighed again and went to find Esme.
"Seriously though Emmett, what are you going to do with yourselves while the rest of us are at school?" I asked.
He grinned, "Well I was thinking of taking Rose to Africa for a few weeks- our 23rd honeymoon."
I smiled, "That sounds great," I said, mentally starting to wonder where Edward and I would go for our honeymoon. "Which part?" I asked.
That started us on a long conversation which Edward and Rose joined about our favourite African countries. Of course, Emmett was eager to hunt down a lion- something I scolded him for since they are endangered. He looked appropriately abashed and promised not to hurt it as long as he was allowed to fight it for a little bit. We all sighed and rolled our eyes at that. Emmett would never change.
"Oh and don't worry Bella, we'll be back in plenty of time for your birthday party," Emmett assured me.
I groaned, "Don't remind me." Alice was incredibly excited about my birthday and had taken it upon herself to plan me a party. At first she had wanted to go far overboard, and had planned to invite the whole school to it, but I had quickly shot down that plan and refused to let her do anything at all unless it was only the Cullen family and I. After muttering about how ungrateful I was and how all her efforts would be ruined she eventually agreed. I was under no illusions though- I knew Alice would be planning on a grand party even if it was only going to be the eight of us.
Emmett chuckled and all of the Cullens seemed to brighten up at the mention of my birthday. It seemed that they were incredibly excited- according to Edward they hadn't had a proper birthday for anyone in over 40 years. Judging by the looks on their faces I was willing to bet that they had all gone overboard with presents for me too.
That night as I waited for Edward to arrive I found myself thinking in more depth about the possibilities for Edward and I on our honeymoon. Since Edward hadn't even brought up marriage yet I had no way of knowing whether he expected me to be changed before our honeymoon, or not- although I was absolutely certain that I would still be human for my wedding and honeymoon.
I moved passed those thoughts and dwelled on the possible locations for our honeymoon. I was wondering whether we could go somewhere warm and tropical, yet secluded enough that nobody would be around to disturb us or notice Edward's sparkling skin, when Alice called. "Don't worry Bella, Edward's got the perfect location in mind but it's a secret- you're going to love it." My spirits lifted at the thought, although I was a bit disgruntled about the secret part.
"He knows I hate surprises," I grumbled. Then another thought hit me, "So that means he's thought about proposing then?" I asked hopefully.
"Yep," Alice answered. My spirits lifted at the thought.
"Any idea when?"
"Nope, sorry, he hasn't set a date yet," she apologised.
I sighed, "Well you'd better start planning the wedding and procuring my wedding dress and yours and Rose's bridesmaid dresses for after graduation next year Alice, because if he doesn't propose to me soon, I'll propose to him." I said determinedly. "In fact, if I have to I'll have Jazz and Emmett hold him at the head of the aisle and force him to say 'I do,'" I decided.
In the background I heard Jasper chuckle, "Go for it Darlin'," he said.
Alice was so pleased at the opportunity to plan the wedding that we spent the rest of the time until Edward had to arrive deciding on a theme. Finally we decided on a 1918 theme and then I had to go because Alice informed me that Edward was heading over.
The days passed quite quickly and I received regular calls from Volterra and also from Alice, who rang every morning to direct me on my wardrobe choices. On the nights I went out on dates with Edward we video conferenced while I modelled outfits for her until she picked the right one.
Edward took me on a lot of dates- mainly at fancy restaurants in Seattle after visiting plays, museums, and galleries. I loved every second of it.
The week before school started again I came home one afternoon to find Charlie already home from work. "Hi dad," I greeted him.
The confusion on my face at his early arrival must have been evident, "Hey Bells, we're going over to the Black's place tonight for dinner and to watch the big game- you can hang out with Jake and his mates for a few hours- get to know a bit more about the tribe. I know you used to be really interested in mythology, and the tribe has some legends that I'm sure you'd find interesting."
I forced a smile. Oh goody, hanging out with the pack- not my favourite way to spend the night. "Sure dad, sounds like fun."
After calling Edward to let him know where I was going so that he wouldn't get worried, I hopped in the car with Charlie and we made our way down to La Push. Something told me Jacob and the rest of the pack would not be happy to see me.
Soon after, we pulled up at the Black's house. Jacob answered the door, "Hey Charlie," he greeted him enthusiastically as he let us in. However, once Charlie was inside and chatting enthusiastically with Billy Jacob levelled a hard glare at me. "Just to be clear Bella, since you are with the leeches, you can't come here unless it's with Charlie, understood?"
I smirked at him, "Don't worry, I have no intentions of coming here- I've never really liked dogs."
He just glared at me. Dinner was tenser than normal, since Jake hard a scowl on his face and Billy alternated between giving me worried and disbelieving glances. It was obvious that he knew about my little run-in with the wolves and how I had stopped Jacob midair.
Personally I thought they should be apologetic if anything. If I had been a normal human that Jacob had lunged at I would have been killed. The wolves were meant to protect the humans of Forks, not kill them.
After dinner I ended up having to tag along with Jake as we walked to Sam's house. I met Emily, who was kind in spite of our differences in allegiance. I was shocked when I first saw her face though- it was obvious to me what kind of supernatural creature had caused the claw marks that disfigured half of her face. Apparently werewolves were much more volatile than I had first thought.
I spent the next few hours in virtual silence with Sam, Jacob and Embry all staring at me warily while I talked politely with Emily.
It was a big relief when the game finally ended and Charlie and I drove home. I resolved that next time I would have to make an excuse not to go- I didn't want to go through that again.
The last of the holidays went by peacefully, with Alice arriving back the day before school started with Jasper in tow and (surprise surprise) a lot of shopping bags which held clothing for everyone in the family.
School started up again and I was annoyed on the first day by all the glares I was receiving. The main culprits were Jessica and Lauren. I simply glared back at them until they broke eye contact and turned away. Edward informed me that apparently they had hoped that Edward and I would break up over the summer and that Edward- who was obviously more into dating now, would ask one of them out. I secretly resolved to get my ring on his finger soon.
It soon became apparent that Mike Newton was more hopeful of gaining my affections this year with Emmett and Jasper out of the picture. I often caught Edward glaring venomously at Mike, and it didn't take a genius to figure out that what he was thinking wasn't exactly complimentary.
It seemed that Eric had finally grown a backbone, I was in English, sitting comfortably next to Edward, who was running his fingers lightly through my hair when I was surprised. I watched confused as Eric entered the classroom, locking his eyes on me and striding comfortably over to my desk. Beside me I felt Edward tense.
Eric finally reached us. He smiled, "Hi Bella," he said; his stutter was gone and he completely ignored Edward.
I felt a slight sense of dread; I didn't like where this was going. I smiled politely, "Hi Eric, how was your holidays?"
"They were great Bella, I spent some time in Virginia with my cousins."
I kept a polite smile on my face, wondering where he was going with this, "That's great Eric, Edward and I went to Italy." I hoped that this would deter him a bit, and sure enough his face fell slightly. I was just about to start congratulating myself when a look of determination crossed his features.
"Bella, I was wandering whether you would like to go to dinner with me sometime this week?"
Edward's hands clenched into fists. I tried to be diplomatic as I let him down, all the while wondering why he would try to ask me out when it was obvious that Edward and I were very much a couple. Hopefully Edward would get up the courage to propose soon and a nice shiny ring on my finger would stop guys from trying anything with me. "Sorry Eric, but I'm with Edward, and I'm not interested in being with anyone else- ever," I said firmly.
His face fell slightly, "Well, that's okay, but if you ever change your mind I'll be here," he said before walking off to take his seat on the other side of the classroom.
Edward relaxed slightly, "Well handled love," he whispered, brushing my hair back from my face.
The rest of the day went by faster after that, and that night we bid a sad farewell to Emmett and Rose, who were heading to Africa. I was going to miss them. I secretly resolved to play a prank on Emmett when he got back- just to show how much I missed him of course.
When they were gone Alice cornered me. "Now Bella, you need to help me plan your birthday party!"
I sighed, resigned to hear of nothing else for the next few weeks.